Preview

The Road-Father Son Relationship

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
307 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Road-Father Son Relationship
Throughout The Road by Cormac McCarthy, the man protects and guides the boy during their trudge to the south. However, in the story, they act more as companions than father and son, and the man treats the boy as an equal both in action and dialogue. Chased by cannibals, the boy he man seeks to defend the boy from both the cannibals and scavenge food for them to survive. As the man and boy trek down the road, cannibals closely hunt them and they often escape by hiding or by retreating away. The man often plunders empty houses, trying to find food and clothes for them. The man is successful, finding “crate upon create of canned goods” (McCarthy 138). “Tomatoes, peaches, beans, apricots, canned ham, corned beef”, etc. (McCarthy 138) provides the food the man and the boy eats. The man carries a pistol with him used to shield them from cannibals. Before the man dies, he gives the boy the pistol, telling him to “keep the gun with you at all times. You need to find the good guys but you cant take any chances.” (McCarthy 278). As mentioned before, the man and boy communicate more as friends than relatives.. At the beginning of The Road, when the man first woke “he’d reach out to touch the child sleeping beside him” to confirm the child’s well-being. The man will “read me [the boy] a story” (McCarthy 7) and “held the boy close to him” (McCarthy 29). The boy demonstrates great maturity as he cares for the man by reminding him to “pour the hot water back […] and pour some of the cocoa into his own” (McCarthy 34) and constantly reminding the man to take heed of his health. Eventually, after the man dies, he was “wrapped in a blanket…” (McCarthy 286) and the boy “sat beside him and he [the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The story tells about a chance meeting between a woman named Kathe Connor and a man named Lyle Carter. Kathe was a thirty-seven year old divorced woman. She lived her life routinely. She drove the same route “so frequently she has almost ceast to see her surroundings”(521). She was also very kind hearted and cared for others. Lyle Carter was a large, hard working man as described by Oates, “A big man in work clothes, torso like the trunk of a thick tree”(522). Contrary to his stature, he was a gentle, compassionate man. He, like Kathe, was divorced and set in his ways. He tells Kathe that “he’d become accustomed to being alone in this phase of his life”(526). Their chance meeting occurred when Kathe noticed something on the side of the road. She stopped to help this creature who ended up being a tiny newborn fawn. Lyle approached and almost hit Kathe’s car. He stopped and tried to help Kathe save the fawn.…

    • 496 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    People often make sacrifices in order to benefit someone or something else. What people sacrifice illuminates their values and morals. In The Road by Cormac McCarthy, the main character has to make sacrifices that allow him to take care of his young son. This story is set in a burned, post-apocalyptic United States and follows a father and son duo as they endeavor to survive in the harsh, new environment. From an objective standpoint, the man’s son is certainly an inconvenience when it comes to the man’s survival. The son is another mouth to feed, another person with whom the man has to share the supplies he scavenges, and another body that the man needs to protect from both human and non-human afflictions. However, the man is still willing to sacrifice an easier survivalist lifestyle for the benefit of his son. By having the man sacrifice his personal survival advantages in order to provide for his son, McCarthy depicts the man’s immeasurable love for his son and conveys the tremendous strength of father-son bonds.…

    • 932 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cormac Mccarthy

    • 842 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In The Road, the first 16 pages give the reader a good perspective of the novel. The reader learns that the world has undergone a dramatic change. The world seems post-apocalyptic, and there is nothing much that remains. Two characters are presented but are not described in any way; we only know that they are labeled as ‘the man’ and ‘the boy’ who are father and son. McCarthy does not give description to ‘the man’ or ‘the boy’, but there actions and dialogues give the reader some sort of understanding of the characters. McCarthy could be labeling the characters ‘the man ‘and ‘the boy’ to show the effects on mankind after this catastrophe. By labeling them ‘the man’ and ‘the boy’, it could be that McCarthy is trying to universalize his characters, showing how much of a change there has been in the novel after the tragedy which has transformed the earth.…

    • 842 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    On this journey to the south, the boy sees and goes through many situations most could not fathom seeing with their own eyes. He saw people lying dead in the streets, people being shot, starving people just begging for help, and had to continue on his journey with his Papa for their own mere survival. His Papa also teaches him all the necessities the boy will have to be able to perform, for the Papa knew he would…

    • 699 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Even in the catastrophic atmosphere Cormac McCarthy creates in his novel The Road, love influences a man and his son to have faith in their survival. In this post-apocalyptic world, love is the only motivation they have in what is left of their world. Love between the man and his son motivates them to keep traveling down this broken road. Without the love that is made between the man and his son, having faith in their survival would be hard to find.…

    • 1836 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In The Road, the two main characters do not have names. They are known only as “the father” and “the boy” or his son. The author, Cormac McCarthy did this on purpose, to make the father a symbol throughout the story. While walking on the road, the father and his son have small conversations, most of which include the boy asking questions about their…

    • 406 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The two main characters in the novel “Three Day Road” by Joseph Boyden; Xavier Bird and Elijah Weesageechack, have many key differences that are illustrated throughout the novel. Xavier is reserved and visceral, while Elijah is self-assured and talkative. Xavier was raised by his Aunt Niska for the Majority of his childhood, opposed to how Elijah was raised in Moose Factory by nuns at a residential school. These factors hold an important responsibility on their personalities and the way that they think and make decisions. The three key differences between them that are paramount to the story and the themes of the novel are; firstly their respect for their Oji-Cree culture, secondly their respect and love for human life, and lastly their personalities. The differences in their personalities create positive chemistry back in their homeland of Canada, but when they are sent to Europe to fight in World War One, their relationship is put to the test.…

    • 1910 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    In Cormac McCarthy’s book The Road, a father and his son try to survive in a post-apocalyptic world where the majority of people have turned to cannibalism and the environment is twisted and dark. Despite their being glimpses of hope and the Son being showed as the next Messiah, a message of hope could in no way be conveyed in the book. The book is depressing, sad, and makes readers feel grateful for what they have and that they do not have to go through what the protagonists face everyday day.…

    • 1054 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The novel The Road by Cormac McCarthy is about a journey between two people, a young boy and his father who are left in a catastrophic, destroyed world. The two travel through the southeastern part of the U.S where the landscapes are on fire. There are abandoned towns and houses, rotting corpses and these two travel with little food, supplies or shelter. They have to escape from people who might seek to steal from them or even kill them for their supplies. The father and the boy are the two travelers among the people remaining on earth who have not been driven to cannibalism, rape and murder. The novel, The Road by Cormac McCarthy is about morality and reveals that when society lacks morals then morality can survive through the individual and…

    • 1147 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The novel The Road by Cormac McCarthy is set in a post-apocalyptic world lacking resources, food, and rules. It tells the journey of a man and his son to find lasting safety and of the adversity they face along the way. The boy in The Road understands the terror of living in a post-apocalyptic world, and at a young age he realizes that he must grow up in order to protect himself as well as his father. Throughout the novel, McCarthy gives the reader examples of how the boy exhibits his concern for strangers, his father, and himself.…

    • 642 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the book Night by Elie Wiesel, there are many father-son duos. In my opinion, a good relationship between a father and his son are vital. Their relationships with each other are varied in terms of agreeability and love for each other. The Germans have sent the Jews off to concentration camps and caused very trying times. They have torn whole family’s apart and sent people at each other’s throats.…

    • 627 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Imagine a world where the skies are grey and the ground is torn to pieces. Where there is no civilization present, nor another human being to be seen. Where the feeling of hunger influences you to consider the idea of human flesh filling your insides and persuading you to do so. A world infested with murder, crime, and despair—which have now become necessary for survival. Imagine the air thick with black clouds towering over your very essence and having to muddle through 10 feet of snow and a strong gust of wind. A world where all faith should be gone, but amiss all bad things, it continues to linger through the eyes of the youth. Being able to see the light when your surroundings are pitch black signifies that humanity has not been lost completely. Although, the man knows in his heart that death is inevitable and dangerously close, he continues to live for the sake of the boy whom he believes carries the final hope for humanity. In Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, the author conveys that although there can be despair and bloodshed in the world, love overcomes all with a little faith. The man views the boy as a symbol for hope and provides the man with a purpose in life, to protect the boy above all.…

    • 1613 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Exile in the Road

    • 658 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In The Road, McCarthy asserts that while evil is almost always portrayed as undefeatable, it does not completely overcome good. The way in which McCarthy proves this theme is through his use of the boy as a symbol of innocence and moral righteousness. In every experience that the father and son have with evil, the son always pleads to do what is morally correct in favor of what they must do to survive. For example, when one of the “bad guys” advances on the father and son, although the boy is under the threat of danger, he still begs his father not to kill the man, which shows the boy’s generosity and tendency to want to help all people in need regardless of their capacity for evil. The boy’s determination to aid the threatening stranger proves that in spite of all the evil surrounding them, one small trace of good may always be seen in the boy.…

    • 658 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Road by Cormac McCarthy is a novel set in a post-apocalyptic world following the path of a Father and Son. McCarthy is a highly celebrated award-winning author. He is 78 years old and has an 8-year-old son – an uncommon circumstance – underlining that for him, death is imminent and prompting him to consider the ideas discussed in his novel. In The Road, the father is undergoing a crisis of faith and so adopts an Existentialist view and creates meaning through his son – who therefore influences many of his actions. I found McCarthy’s use of techniques such as juxtaposition and antithesis that counter the macabre images throughout the book with those of love between the father and Son both repulsive and fascinating at the same time.…

    • 1311 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In American Literature, readers can find many stories and poems, both fiction and non-fiction, that center around family dynamics. The stories and poems usually focus on relationships within the family structure at a turning point in one of the central "character's" lives. Some stories focus on a strong and positive maternal or fraternal central character with an offspring who lacks focus or is unappreciative of his family and other stories centralize the younger generation and the impact that their parents actions or inactions have on them. In particular, strong relationships between fathers and sons sometimes cause conflict and grief, as depicted in "My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke, "Barn Burning" by William Faulkner, and "Killings" by Andre Dubus.…

    • 1325 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays