Cannibalism In The Road

The world in the book The Road, is filled with an abundance of horrifying events, and very brutal scenes. The man and his son travel a long journey of ashen woods, snow, and the constant fight for life. The post-apocalyptic world is desolate, and the boy and man hang on with the bare minimum. The world as they know it was demolished, and they were left with very few others searching for the basic necessities. Food, water, and shelter is scarce, so the fight for survival is persistent on a daily basis. Society is dilapidated, and there is nothing that can be done. Because of these factors, society is unable to hold people together. All these obstructions lead people to do what has to be done, no matter the circumstances. Without the conditions,
Throughout the book there are many events that are hard to grasp, you would never think cannibalism is valued until it’s your only chance at survival. In the book the people resort to cannibalism to survive. Because food is so scarce, cannibalism seems like the only choice, so the cannibals see it as a valued action. The boy is very caring and godlike, he continuously asks his father if they are the good guys. There are many instances in the story when I felt like the man would’ve possibly fallen in the cannibal category, but refrained because of his son. An example of that is, “ The story states, “Coming back he found the bones and the skin piled together with rocks over them. A pool of guts. He pushed at the bones with the toe of his shoe. They looked to have been boiled. No pieces of clothing,” (McCarthy, 70). It’s very sad that the men ate one of their friends without any thought or hesitation, and then left him there. It’s an example of the actions people had to take in order to
Each factor of society proves that there is no respect for anyone. Cannibalism, slavery, and looting are prime examples of the disrespect. The woman said, “Sooner or later they will catch us and they will kill us. They will rape me. They’ll rape him. They are going to rape us and kill us and eat us and you wont face it” (56). The story has been vulgar scenes, but this one shows how bad society really was. Not only would they be eaten, but they would be raped and killed. It’s very sad to think about how people were treated. People on the road were so hungry and determined to survive in whatever way possible, it made them malicious. The most innocent people on this earth are children, and society is so messed up that it doesn’t affect or bother people to hurt them. “They walked into the little clearing, the boy clutching his hand. They’d taken everything with them except whatever black thing was skewered over the coals. He was standing there checking the perimeter when the boy turned and buried his face against him. He looked quickly to see what had happened. What is it? he said. What is it? The boy shook his head. Oh Papa, he said. He turned and looked again. What the boy had seen was a charred human infant headless and gutted and blackening on the spit” (198). It’s very sad that a mother would resort in eating her own