Paternal Love In Cormac Mccarthy's The Road
The man in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, shows no deviation from the deliberate sacrifices for the boy, illuminating the potent value of love, especially highlighted by the dreary atmosphere surrounding them. With a tone described as tender and elegiac, McCarthy conveys the love a father can share with a son, despite being in the wake of an astronomical disaster.
Paternal love possesses an ubiquitous thematic throughout the work, given the relationship between the two protagonists. Small gifts or “treats” are presented to the boy recipient from the man may appear insignificant, but eminently provide a grander meaning of putting your priorities first. Even as the man lays dying, he instructs his son to take his share from the scarce amount of
food , instead of keeping it to fuel hope for regaining health. A parent’s desire or obligation to forfeit something is typical, although nuanced in this book.
Although, the desperate circumstances of the post-apocalyptic world that the characters live in provides a darker side to the aforementioned values. Unlike his wife lost to suicide, a method of death utilized as a motif, the man does not wish to wish to “save” his son from civilization’s wreckage by killing him preemptively. To the father, suicide is only an option if the child is imminently harmed. Perhaps, for this purpose he leaves the pistol whenever he explores a new and potentially unsafe location on his lonesome. Not only is the man giving up his a higher possibility of survival, but integrity and human identity is also at stake alongside life to surrender for the boy. In a world devoid of society, he takes on the role of a moral educator. It comes down to what he can will do to make his son into a noble man one day. Sometimes the young kindred proves himself more virtuous than his predecessor. Ultimately, finding the past sacrifices worth one’s while.
Clearly, while often sacrifice might take form of physical matter like a mere soda, it more importantly takes shape as the choice to live a difficult life for the one who “has [your] heart,” rather than taking the easy way out. This little hope remaining was named “catching the fire” representing the people who have a kindle of humanity left in their soul, including the man.
Paternal love possesses an ubiquitous thematic throughout the work, given the relationship between the two protagonists. Small gifts or “treats” are presented to the boy recipient from the man may appear insignificant, but eminently provide a grander meaning of putting your priorities first. Even as the man lays dying, he instructs his son to take his share from the scarce amount of
food , instead of keeping it to fuel hope for regaining health. A parent’s desire or obligation to forfeit something is typical, although nuanced in this book.
Although, the desperate circumstances of the post-apocalyptic world that the characters live in provides a darker side to the aforementioned values. Unlike his wife lost to suicide, a method of death utilized as a motif, the man does not wish to wish to “save” his son from civilization’s wreckage by killing him preemptively. To the father, suicide is only an option if the child is imminently harmed. Perhaps, for this purpose he leaves the pistol whenever he explores a new and potentially unsafe location on his lonesome. Not only is the man giving up his a higher possibility of survival, but integrity and human identity is also at stake alongside life to surrender for the boy. In a world devoid of society, he takes on the role of a moral educator. It comes down to what he can will do to make his son into a noble man one day. Sometimes the young kindred proves himself more virtuous than his predecessor. Ultimately, finding the past sacrifices worth one’s while.
Clearly, while often sacrifice might take form of physical matter like a mere soda, it more importantly takes shape as the choice to live a difficult life for the one who “has [your] heart,” rather than taking the easy way out. This little hope remaining was named “catching the fire” representing the people who have a kindle of humanity left in their soul, including the man.