A Road Built on Theme

With most of The Road behind us, it is time to start focusing on what McCarthy s trying to show. As I mentioned in my last blog post, McCarthy is not creating a novel with a focus on plot. There is no large enemy, no huge obstacle to overcome, the focus of the story is on the traveling, and the connections that grow between the father and son. The majority of the pages in the novel have been used to set up numerous themes, all of which are shown in many scenarios.

Since there are only two developed characters in the entire novel, it is clear that most of the themes will occur in the interactions between the father and son. The two are a dynamic duo, meandering down the road, starving most of the time, yet still having the strength to create themes. This strength is shown in one theme I believe exists- strength because of love.

It has been clear that the purpose of the father is to help his son survive. Unfortunately he may be very good at walking on a road, but his ability to find and ration food seems to be lacking at some points. The dynamic duo spend the majority of the novel starving, and it is here that the strength and perseverance of the father is shown. He watches his son starve and it is his love for his son that makes him fight twice as hard to see him well fed. It’s from this love that he draws much of his strength to keep pushing towards the south, to never give up, and most importantly, stay positive towards his son. The father never becomes angry at his son, even after he leaves the fuel tank open, losing all of their valuable fuel. Any obstacle they face simply makes him fight harder to provide for his son. As mentioned in a previous post, the father continues mainly for his love of his son. WIthout him, I believe his strength would fade rapidly, and his demise would occur quickly. The love he has for the boy gives him strength, and this interaction creates a key theme in the novel.

Without any clear challenge, it is necessary to ask: who are the good and bad guys? The father tells the son they are the good guys, and he seems to believe it… but is everyone left in the world telling themselves that? It seems that no one has the intention of being purely evil in the novel. There is no quest for power, everyone is trying to live. Could that not be used by every person to rationalize themselves as a good guy? The point that McCarthy is showing in the post-apocalyptic world is that there is not a clear line between good and evil. To the characters(and hopefully the readers) the group of people who are cooking a baby are clearly evil, but could that group say that they are good because it was necessary to survive?.. Okay, that might be a bit of a stretch, but McCarthy relies on the reader using their own perspective to place characters as good and evil. He does not say “they saw an evil man” he shows the interaction and lets the reader decide. He even gives the reader a few tests as to deciding where to place the main characters. When meeting the old man on the road, the boy wishes to give him aid, while the father would prefer to keep moving. For many compassionate readers, they would side with the boy, and think that the man is being mean in this scenario. From a different perspective however, the man thinks he is being good for saving food for himself and his son. Perspective plays a key role in explaining the interactions between good and evil.

So far, I have not found the novel overly interesting. I think it is well made for it’s intentions, however it does not suit my reading style. I expressed a few complaints in previous blog posts about the style of presenting events McCarthy uses, and I am just seeing a continuation of singular events, that do not tie into a much larger plot. Like many books that focus on themes and motifs rather than plot, I find myself caring less about the challenges that the characters face, and spending my time focusing on the smaller details that make up the themes. It is clear that plot is not as major as the in depth meaning, so I find myself paying less attention to what little pieces of plot we are given. I am about to read the rest of the novel, and I have to stick with the previous prediction: the characters are both on the road to death. With the lack of food, protection, and with the father’s sickness getting worse, I cannot think of a feasible way these characters could survive. That being said, there could be an exciting turn of events in the south that could prove me wrong. With the survival skills shown by the father, anything could be possible.