Hello and welcome to my blog! I hope you enjoy reading my thoughts on the novel The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Please feel free to leave your thoughts below in the comment section! 

Just Two Characters...Without Names...Walking on a Road...

What would you say if someone asked you, “Is it possible to write a novel without a plot and only have two characters without names who rarely say more than five words to each other?” I would say what a boring book that would be. However, The Road is just that. The novel is about a father and son who walk on a road, all day, everyday...literally.

Although nameless, mysterious, and nearing death, the two main characters embody the definition of perseverance and love as they walk south along a road hoping for a better life. This novel is the ultimate father and son journey for survival as they battle predators, the cold, and hunger.

The father is described as always staying calm and being optimistic as he promises his son they are safe and will not die. His goal is to do anything to keep his son alive. Essentially he is your typical father archetype. His son is the opposite, as he is paralyzed with fear. The son acknowledges the reality, that they are low on food, and only have one round of ammunition left. He begins to wish he was dead like his mother. You begin to see how compassionate and caring the son is even when he’s scared to death. The son wants to help those they come across on their deathbeds by offering to share his food, but his father does not allow this.

The son makes sure his father continues to eat and drink and does not skip out on any meals to save food. This is seen when the father gives the remaining hot chocolate to his son and just drinks hot water. The son reminds him he promised not to do that. The father pours his hot water back and takes half of his son’s hot chocolate. The son says, “If you break little promises you’ll break big ones. That’s what you said.” (Page 34)

The two characters rarely say more than four or five words to each other which makes what they do say even more powerful. You begin to feel sympathetic for the father as he hides his fear and portrays himself as strong and confident for his son. He continues to risk his life searching through houses for food and blankets and looking for firewood alone without protection, as he leaves his son in a safe hideout with the gun. I think if it comes down to it, the father will shoot his own son before anything hurts him. However, you also feel bad for the son because he is too young to truly grasp what is happening. This horrible life is primarily all he knows and he is miserable because he knows death is near as everywhere he and his father go contains rotting corpses and repulsive smells. He tries to trust and believe his father but he continues to take every step on the road in fear. The son has become desensitized to violence and used to these horrid sights.

His mother used to be on their journey with them but one night she accepted death was more appealing than this life and walked off into the darkness. The father did not have to tell his son, he just asked “She’s gone isn’t she?” (Page 58) His father replied, “Yes she is,” and his mother has barely been mentioned since.