Mccarthy The Road Analysis

At the low end of the social spectrum lies the decayed, weak, and dying. They have little more to give and are easy for the higher classes to take advantage of. Normally, it is the highest order that attack this isolated and depressive group, and such is the case throughout much of the story. However a notable event does occur in which the the man leaves a thief with absolutely nothing. Even before this though, they notice his place on the social ladder.

“Scrawny, sullen, bearded, filthy. His old plastic coat held together with tape… They could smell him in his stinking rags,” (McCarthy, 256).

Upon first reading this, it would seem that McCormac hast an open hostility, and even disgust for them. And that would certainly agree with how
the man reacts. He strips the man bare, taking the ragged clothes for what little he can scavenge. “He stepped forward and placed the shoes on top of the blankets and stepped back. Standing there raw and naked, filthy, starving. Covering himself with his hand. He was already shivering,” (McCarthy, 257).

It is more of a sad moment that a happy one at recovering their stolen supplies.
But in this moment, in this one very moment, it is key to overlook the scene that has just taken place. In the middle of this “eye for an eye” trade off of what little each side has, there is more pity in McCarthy’s words than any sort of blame or reprimand. This, in contrast the activities of the cannibals that the protagonists encountered earlier, paints a stark contrast in The Road’s view of survival. The cannibals feast on the weak. They take and take, even going to far as to take the person themself. And, throughout the book, they show more open hostility that any sort of remorse, even when a youth is present. The protagonists, people of this middle social class in this post-apocalyptic order, are merely looking to right what has been wronged. They have been taken from, and in a fit of rage, try to lash out. And, much unlike those in the higher social class, show the remorse of returning to scene of the crime in which they realize their wrong before setting the rotting clothes back down in the road in the hope that the man comes back -- not because they have to, but because they want to. This is a key difference between them and the greedy top class of the cannibalistic
peoples. In conclusion, within the page of the The Road, Cormac McCarthy demonstrates the world following a catastrophe. The end, is much like how it has always been: a group at the top with the rest of the peoples of the world beneath their feet. This one high group has the power to influence, scare, and control all of the others below due to their abundance of power. And while this day and age such an presense may not be the most apparent, on an earth like this, it become all too apparent when flesh is being ripped off the bone.