The novel, “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy, is a story that highlights a father and son relationship. Throughout the story, we begin to understand why each character is the way they are. When reading “The Road” for the very first time I thought the man was a selfish character who never saw the good in people, but as soon as I re-read the book for the second time, I realized that the man isn’t selfish.

The man cares about his son’s well-being even though he may sound a bit harsh for the most part. Throughout the book the man begins to understand why the mother of their son, said “You won’t survive for yourself” (pg.57), The man’s only reason to live and have hope is because of the boy. And even though this is true Cormac Mccarthy highlights that the man won’t be around much longer due to the type of dreams the man has been having. which is why the man tries to prepare the boy throughout the book.

To become mentally and physically ready to take on challenges. Now even though the man wants the best for the boy and is preparing him, he also doesn’t want the boy to grow up so quickly at such a young age, which is why even though honesty is important to conserve, there are times he has to lie to the boy for the sake of the boy maintaining the innocence that is left in him. This highlights that the man cares about the boy but is also harming the boy in a way, due to the position they are currently in.

Even though the man is preparing the boy he is also sharing some core memories with the boy, because the man believes the memories won’t ever come back due to what’s left in society. This core memory was shown by two bottles of Coca-Cola they had found in a supermarket.

I believe McCarthy’s message was how even though as a parent one tries to protect their child, you can’t have them unsee, what is right in front of them. Also don’t always focus on what is going to happen in the future, what matters is to conserve what the now is.

McCarthy depicts the setting of the road and the different destinations that the man and the boy reach as being hell like. He uses different explanations about hell from the bible to create a realistic setting. One verse that shows this is Mark 9:43, “Hell, where the fire never goes out.” As seen multiple times throughout the book, the setting is constantly filled with smoke, ash, darkness and fire. This fire that is surrounding them is an image of hell and the punishment that God puts on sinners. Another verse that shows the connection between hell and the road is 2 Thessalonians 1:9, “eternal destruction.” The book is filled with examples of their environment being destroyed. Whether it’s when the trees were falling, the ground was trembling, or how death is surrounding them, everything that had been part of their normal life is now wrecked. McCarthy allows the reader to make an assumption that walking on and around the road is similar to how it would be to walk through hell.

The man in the book lacks any type of real faith, despite his occasional “good works” without having a belief behind the action they don’t mean anything. He lies to the boy multiple times as an attempt to console him about their situations. He tells the boy “it’ll be okay,” (pg.25) so many times throughout the novel even though he doesn’t know the truth about the outcome. He wants his son to believe that they can make it out of this even though he himself doesn’t know what to think. He does his best to protect the kid by lying and convincing him that his actions will help them in the long run. When they run into strangers, the man pretends to be compassionate but really is only doing it to provide the boy some satisfaction. After an interaction with an old man, the father says, “You should thank him, you know, the man said. I wouldn’t have given you anything.” (pg. 173) The man knows he wouldn’t go out of his way to help any of the strangers but because of the boy’s compassion he gives them something. The father has good intentions when it comes to his interactions but the way he conveys them is not a point of pride.

In the roadmap I made, I included notable events from throughout the book. Specifically, I included events from the book that had lessons to be learned from the Dad’s responses. The first 4 events I included have qualities over the description - they were events where the Dad’s actions showed leadership, selfishness, defensiveness and selflessness. Above each of the qualities, arrows go further up along the road to connect to where the boy currently is.

This design of the roadmap was intentional. Throughout the reading, McCarthy’s storytelling has been a little confusing, but the characters’ reactions (with different events) have stood out to me and guided my understanding.

At the beginning of the book the mom would pass away. The situation was tough but the dad knew they couldn’t afford to wait, so they started off on the journey. I understood this event for the Dad’s response to the tragedy; he was strong, and a leader. As the book continues, we get looks into even crazier events. I’ve understood each event for the character’s reactions - and I think that this goes with what must have been McCarthys intention; McCarthy sets up the bulk of the book with this confusing variety of event’s, and it all builds up to the end where the boy is left (sort of) alone. In these events, the character reactions point out the learning, and takeaways the boy must have had, leaving us with a significant question. I think that McCarthy constructed all of these learning events together to leave us wondering about what will happen with the boy left alone? How he will apply what he’s learned.

What does each interaction with other people tell us about the main characters or the world?

1 Mom Leaves

In chronological order of the book, the first interaction they had with another person was when the woman left. Her family was not enough for her to want to survive in this hellish world. The man pleaded with her to stay but it wasn’t enough. “Death is not a lover. Oh yes he is”. (pg. 57) This must have been a long time coming because when the boy woke up he knew, “she’s gone isn’t she”. I think this experience, aside from the whole apocalypse thing, has a lot to do with why the man is as cold as he is. This scene lets us know on an emotional level how truly terrible the state of the world is, leaving our two main characters to embark on their journey south.

2 Lightning-Stricken Man

When they come across a man who has been struck by lightning, the boy is compassionate and wants to help him, which is a theme that will continue to show throughout the entire book. This also goes to show just how fortunate they are that the man is able bodied and not old, as well as the fact that neither of them are alone. We can only imagine what it is like to be in this post-apocalyptic world, being in it alone seems much more impossible.

3 Roadrat

When they notice a truck coming up the road, fear strikes the heart of the man and boy and we are first introduced to the “bad guys”. When the man approaches the truck driver (roadrat), he gets into a verbal and physical altercation that results in the man killing the roadrat. The boy’s compassion reaches new levels when he expresses that he is upset with the man for killing the roadrat, even though there was a point where the roadrat grabbed the boy and put a knife to his throat. This interaction lets us know that there are still motor vehicles being operated, and there is some bigger group of “bad guys”. “Yeah. We got ammunition” (pg. 64)

4 Basement Food

They find a big house on the side of the road and enter in search of some food or supplies that could be useful, but what they find shocks them. They found a bunch of naked people, some with torn off limbs. This shows us how evil these “bad guys” are and what they would do to survive. They have been, and will continue to round survivors up and eat them, which is why the man was hiding when they came across the truck.

5 Ely

They find an old, somewhat blind, frail man who calls himself Ely. This is the first time the boy was able to convince the man to help someone. We also see glimpses of the boy maturing with him knowing that he won’t be able to take the man with them. I believe McCarthy added this interaction to add in a more philosophical aspect to provide meaning to what it is to survive on the road. He also further establishes the religious aspect of the story, for further though.

6 3 Men & Pregnant Woman

When the man thinks they are being followed, there is a shift in how the boy responds. The man is no longer just giving out orders, instead they both understand the situation and come up with a plan together as the boy knows the people may be after their food and anyone would be willing to take their lives for it. This shows a growth in the boy’s understanding of the gravity of the apocalypse.

7 Thief

When someone steals their cart, the man is livid. When they find the thief, the man takes everything from him. The boy wants to go back and help him which shows an incredible amount of compassion seeing as though that thief was ready to leave them for dead.

8 End (Good Guys)

In the end, the man is dead, and the boy finally finds more “good guys” which gives us a little hope for the boy’s future.

The novel, “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy; is a story of a father and son navigating through this post-apocalyptic world having solely one another. The constant danger of the unknown causes the father to keep moving, not allowing them to stay in one place for too long. Despite the boy constantly asking to enjoy the few blessings they had come across, the father was constantly quick to say, “We can’t stay, he said… It’s not safe… We have to keep moving.” (McCarthy 42). This repetition of this phrase occurs multiple times throughout the novel. The sensation the reader gets while reading these phrases is that it is always rushed. Each drawing around the road represents an event that occurs in the novel and leads the man to tell the boy to “keep going” and go back on the road. The road is the only consistent element throughout the novel. The man is continuously rushing the boy to go back on the road. His constant fear of the unknown pushes them to continue their journey on the road. That is also why we chose to draw the road in a circle-like shape, to represent the cycle of the man and boy going back on the road. This cycle of pushing forward despite knowing the ignorance of youth is being stolen from the boy each day, hoping to see him grow and carry on the fire. Striving to keep a good moral compass in a world where morality is thrown out the window and dehumanization is the new norm.

Quotes that correlate with each drawing:

Waterfall: “We can’t stay, he said… It’s not safe… We have to keep moving. We have to keep heading south” (McCarthy 42).

The burnt man in the road: “They went on. The boy was crying he kept looking back… ‘We have no way to help him… The boy stood looking down. He nodded his head. Then they went on and he didn’t look back again” (McCarthy 50).

Fallen trees in the snow: “We have to go, head. We can’t stay here’ The boy stared bleakly at the gray drifts. Come on. They made their way out to the fence” (McCarthy 98).

Man w/o legs in the basement: “For the love of god will you come on, he hissed. He grabbed the boy by the hand. Christ, he said. Run. Run. (McCarthy 111).

Bunker: “How long can we stay here Papa? Not long. How long is that? I don’t know. Maybe one more day. Two. Because it’s dangerous” (McCarthy 139).

Old man, they gave fruit: “We can’t stay here. We have to go. He’s scared Papa. I don’t think you should touch him” (McCarthy163). “We can’t stay here. We have to go”(McCarthy 163).

For the art piece of this Lit Log we wanted our drawing to capture the true immaturity of the man. Throughout The Road, the man constantly acts as if he knows everything, as if he is more mature than the boy. However, at multiple points throughout the novel, the man reveals how he is less mature than he makes it out to be for his son. The quotes we chose to add to this art piece are the ones that stuck out the most for this argument. For example: “Then he picked up the phone and dialed the number of his father’s house in that long ago”(17), showing how the man is still dealing with his own adjustment to the apocalypse. Where he pretends he doesn’t let his emotions get to him, in this scene he gives away how hung up on the old world he is. Another quote that aligned with this motif was “[they] looked for the town but they couldn’t find it… They were some fifty miles west of where he’d thought.”(181-182) This is another moment where the man lets his all-knowing behavior slip and he shows the errors he starts to make as he gets sicker, and as their time on the road progresses. In as many instances where the man makes errors, there are many moments where the boy shows maturity and knowledge. For this reason, we made the artistic decision to draw the boy larger than the man, to show how he overcame his father. Towards the end of The Road, the boy develops into a grown character with many ideas and contributions to their journey, which is expressed through this artwork.

In “The Road ” by Cormac McCarthy, there are significant mentions of “carrying the fire”(83) and good versus bad guys. Starting from the very beginning of the book, a child leads the man towards a dream. In that dream he sees a creature— “it’s mouth dripping from the rhinestone pool and stared into the light with eyes dead white and sighless as the eggs of spiders’ ‘. As the book came to its end, there was continuous mention of the “creature”. These creatures symbolize humans— mouth dripping with hunger and greed. The dream was a message sent from God to the man, foreshadowing the future.

The man mentions his kid as a “warrant”. (5) Warrant means authority and justification which all connects to the dad trying to justify every action as for the boy’s own good. He continues to claim that it was his “job” (74) and that he was “appointed to do that by God”. (77) My assumption is that he was meant to die but God needed him to play an important role in saving humanity. There was a mention in the book about wanting to die but too scared of death. I believe that was how the man felt when he was able to die so he agreed to God’s suggestion. On page 12-13 when the boy was asleep, the man whispered “Are you there? Will I see you at the end? Have you a neck by which to throttle you? Have you a heart? Damn you eternally have you a soul?” Analyzing this quote, he was obviously talking to you God— “Will I see you at the end?” was the man asking once he died, will he be able to go to heaven and see God after his duty is fulfilled (he knows full well he was going to die)— “Have you a heart? Damn you eternally have you a soul?” was his way of questioning God’s actions. Maybe it is because humans will never understand what God is doing.

From context clues, God seems to be trying to destroy the world he created and rebuilding it as a punishment to humanity. Again, we don’t know why he is doing so. Believers of God: prophets in the bible also had moments where they would question God. On page 170, Ely said “There is no God and we are his prophets” which means that he doesn’t believe in God but the “word of God” (such as morals and the basis of humanity) exists within people. After the man died and the boy was left alone, he met people who claimed that they are the good guys and carry the fire.

“The Road ” is a book that is woven with descriptive and morbid words and events, that creates a truly harrowing story. The two main characters trek across a burned and dead Earth on a voyage to nothing. They take the reader with them as they go, and every little thing is expressed with the utmost of detail. The characters are nameless, and the journey ends without a destination. Although the destination throughout the story is never really decided on, one thing these characters did stick to was the road. The road wasn’t a single solitary road, but a series of different off-chutes and main interstates that made their journey. Because all the reader knows is what the man knows, mapping this trek would be next to impossible. However, a map doesn’t just have to be the physical route they went, so this map is of something a little different.

I decided to guess the area they started out in and how their journey laid out. New York state and New Jersey was my best guess, so that’s what’s on the map. I decided to document most of the times that the dad has an internal monologue and turn those moments into symbols. Then, I guessed a route that seemed accurate and drew those symbols on the map to where they could have happened. The first symbol comes from page 75 when he says, “Golden chalice, good to house a god.” The man is of course talking about the boy here, saying how he sees the essence of god in him. Skipping a few, on page 114, he thinks, “Can you do it? When the time comes?..Curse God and die.” I drew the gun for this moment. The gun holds so much power, they protect it with their lives and in this moment he is willing to use it despite his god. In the third to last one, the boy gets sick and the man says this: “You have to stay near, you have to be quick. So you can be with him. Hold him close.” I picked the blind monster in the beginning to signify that everything wrong that happens to them is really just up to chance and there is nothing deciding their fate. Sickness, the world dying, hunger, they’re all blind. McCarthy shows the ups and downs of their trip in these small looks into the man’s mind, but overall it shows his slow decline in hope and climb in desperation. In the beginning he seems hopeful, “Golden chalice, good to house a god”, but by the end the man has completely lost hope and seems strung-out: “He is coming to steal my eyes. To seal my mouth with dirt.”(261)

The Road, a book by Cormac McCarthy, is a dark story of a father and son trying to survive an apocalyptic world. As readers, we see their journey through countless unfamiliar backgrounds and we see their mostly depressing story. Where everyday of survival for these characters, is a battle with themselves, and the crazy world around them.

When reading The Road, one is aware that happy moments are treasures in the stories of the main characters. When often seeing them struggle to keep being alive, we can’t help but to dig deeper into the moments where the father and son are at ease.

It’s no coincidence that these good moments are a sign of safety. McCarty uses these moments to show readers that characters are finally somewhat safe. We see this when the son can just live as a normal child, learning to thank people and God with–“Dear people, thank you for all this food and stuff.” (146)— a prayer. And the father, just a father for his son, “You’re doing good, the man said. You’re doing good.” (39). The author’s strategy is compelling. Showing that with environmental safety, we can learn more about the lives and perspectives of characters outside the world they live in.

When reading, it almost feels surreal seeing these characters just live after experiencing the most traumatic horrors of their lives. As readers you grow to appreciate and desire more of these moments for the characters. On The Road, various types of safety are displayed for readers to uncover and analyze. But after reading the book from start to finish, we thought it would be important to show the perspective that explores the idea that good moments equate to safety. By showing specific experiences of the characters, we as readers can observe the different types of stability represented in the book.

more detailed examples below:

“The Road” by Cormac McCarthy explores many themes through the relationship between the man and his son. During their journey, they encounter lots of enemies. This includes not just other humans that they find along the way, but silent enemies too. The man constantly acts in the name of survival, and in contrast, the boy needs constant reassurance that they are still good, due to his extreme compassion. We wanted to show that with our map. Along our road, we drew the moments that made the boy question the morality of their actions. The very first person that they communicate with on the road turns into a violent event. After the man shot another person, the narrator describes the boy as “Lying in his lap with no expression on his face.” (page 68) This part shows how truly shocked the boy was by the man’s actions, he could not even react. Later, they run into another horrific scene, of which the boy states they would never eat people “Because we’re the good guys.” (page 129) He again has the same reaction after they find a large supply of canned food, asking if they can eat it because those who left it are the good guys. Finally, he asks his new companions whether they were good so he would know whether it was okay to go with them or not. The motif of good guys vs bad guys throughout “The Road” made it hard to follow who the enemies were, and who you were supposed to be rooting for. We wanted to represent that confusion in our artwork, showing all the different kinds of people that were encountered along the way.

link to our artwork:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GLMl5l21pelmmvRJ3ZaUEt1dSWl3XluxyAoSgm5S7KI/edit?usp=sharing