Compassion In The Road

The Road showcases the aftershocks of a worldwide catastrophe, where most of humankind is dead, and the ones that remain are immoral. The world Cormac McCarthy depicts is so awful that even a tiny hint of kindness seems heroic. Compassion looms throughout the novel, and is something that is not necessary but given.
McCarthy frequently associates compassion with the boy. Because the boy is so naïve, we see that his kindness comes from his innocence and goodness of his heart. Because the boy was born in the middle of whatever catastrophic event shook the world, this is the only world he has ever known. Even so, he does not understand why people hurt, kill, and even eat others, even if they are a definite threat to him. He gives the old man and
He gives him as many luxuries as he possibly can, such as an old soda or powdered drink mix, and lets him eat his share of food, even when he knows he is dying and frail. The man is a kind person, only harming people if they are a threat to the boy. If it weren’t for the boy, the man probably would have given up on life a long time ago: “They slept huddled together in the rank quilts in the dark and the cold. He held the boy close to him. So thin. My heart, he said. My heart. But he knew that if he were a good father still it might well be as she had said. That the boy was all that stood between him and death” (8). He is staying alive for the boy’s sake, to teach him the ways of the harsh world. At the end he pushes himself to get the boy to a warm climate, even if it means speeding up his impending
You could see them standing in the amber current where the white edges of their fins wimpled softly in the flow. They smelled of moss in your hand. Polished and muscular and torsional. On their backs were vermiculate patterns that were maps of the world in its becoming. Maps and mazes. Of a thing which could not be put back. Not be made right again. In the deep glens where they lived all things were older than man and they hummed of mystery” (287). This is a beautiful and peaceful ending to the novel, although it is not very hopeful. The trout symbolizes the beauty of nature, and that there were so many beautiful and intricate objects and living beings before society collapsed. This passage makes the point that once we destroy our world, we can never get it back again. The conditions that existed at the beginning of time can never be restored. Whether the catastrophe that took place was environmental or political, we must show compassion to nature and each other to prevent something like this from