Cormack Mccarthy The Road Analysis

Cormack McCarthy is well know for his novels including No Country for Old Men, Blood Meridian, and more recently the 2006 novel The Road. On the surface The Road seems like another post-apocalyptic story involving cannibals and other clichés shared by the likes of The Book of Eli or any other modern day post-apocalyptic book, movie, etc. However, McCarthy found a way to tell a story of survival in a harsh and nearly inhospitable world while exploring themes such as love and spirituality. Its these themes along with an abundance of symbols and imagery that make up the general tone of the story that earned a Pulitzer Prize and the title of “American Classic” by some critics. A popular description of The Road is “The ‘Walking Dead’ with literary value” and after reading the novel, I could not agree more. Within the novel exist multiple themes that, as I read, …show more content…
In fact, the setting and the title itself are symbols. For almost the entirety of the book the reader finds the Man and the Boy on the road. The road represents not only an actual physical road but also the highly dangerous and desolate mind-set of the surrounding area. This ruined state of mind exists throughout the novel giving it a very somber and depressing atmosphere. Another example of symbolism would be the scene where the Man uses a flare gun. The Man shoots the flare over the bay but he knows that there is no help. With shooting the flare, the true sense of loneliness and hopelessness is seen through the following dialogue between the Boy and the Man, where the theme of the Man questioning the existence of God is seen again. The Boy asks “ Like God?” as in if God could see the flare and the Man replies “Yeah something like that.” The Man has begun to lose hope and doesn’t even think God can help them at that point, signifying what is the start of the end for the Man’s