The theme of hope in the road

         

The theme of hope in the road

            After reading The Road, I knew that it was a story that had more than one meaning, but the main theme that I got out of it was; hope. Hope is something that we all have within us, it is special and pure, but it can also be easily lost. For example the symbolic figure Cormac Mccarthy used to describe hope was the fire which is inside of all of us. It also symbolizes the goodness and the innocence in humanity, and the determination that keeps us moving forward. The fire can easily be put out, but keeping it alive is a choice. For the main characters (the man and the boy) carrying the fire and staying alive is one of the many difficult obstacles that they both must face. Especially when they live in a world where there is no point in living anymore.

          In Cormac Mccarthy’s post-apocalyptic society it is explained that their are only two types of people, “the good guys” and “the bad guys”. The difference between these two characteristics is that the good guys have kept their fire, their goodness and their innocence still remain alive, as they attempt to survive the new world, and they still have hope to move on. The bad guys however (often working in groups of men) have depended on cannibalism, murder, and brutality to survive, therefore they have lost their fire. Mccarthy goes into very intense detail to explain how the people living in the new world have become. For example, in one of the scenes the man and boy witness a pregnant woman walking in the road, the next morning they see that they have cooked the body of a newborn infant. “a charred human infant headless and gutted and blackening on the spit.” Another example is when the boy and the man find groups of naked suffering people in a cellar of a house, which will soon be eaten. These examples just go to show how the road agents feel no empathy for their victims, and how their innocence, hope, and strength are now long gone.

 

         The relationship between the boy and the man plays a strong role in the story. The boy resembles hope, innocence, and redemption. The boy is the only source of strength that the man has to move forward. Through the man’s perspective, the boy is his only living proof that God truly does exist, and he feels that it is his purpose to look after the boy and protect him. "My job is to take care of you. I was appointed to do that by God. I will kill anyone who touches you. Do you understand?” The man in turn provides the boy with protection and wisdom, in order to make his son live on and have a future in a world that has gone dim. He continued to take care of him until the boy began to show signs of maturity this was one of things which foreshadowed the man's death, as the boy began to grow and understand the world more the father's purpose became limited. The father was ready to give in. In many ways the boy resembled the man's fire, especially since he was the main reason why the man felt the constant need to keep on going with his life.

          In the story the new world is described as a world which is slowly deteriorating. Most of the trees have fallen down, and eventually all of the remaining trees will all collapse. All the animals and all of the crops have died out, leaving only small amounts of food hidden around the world. The only thing covering the ground is ash. The days are dark, long and gloomy, and the road is full of cannibals. It is a world no one would ever want to live in. The protagonists of the story frequently have to come across obstacles that challenge their determination to keep on going, for the father one of his many obstacles was his lack of trust. His lack of trust often caused chaos between him and his son, like when he refused to help the man who was shocked by lightning, or when he made the thief strip naked and took away his clothes. Through the boy's perspective, he shows more sympathy toward the people who bump into the both of them in the road. The father however only thinks about keeping the both of them alive. The boy on the other hand wants to keep holding the fire, and to be “the good guy”, he wants to help people instead of hurt them.

        In conclusion, the road is a book about hope, redemption, strength, and the good and the evil in humanity. Even though both protagonists have their differences the relationship between them can be described as special and sacred. The story shows a relationship between both a boy and a man managing to remain hopeful and making the best out of a horrible situation that most people wouldn’t be able to handle.