Safety In The Road By Cormac Mccarthy
The most important parts of life are to be cherished and protected above all others. Life's essentials are often stockpiled, and the security gained can be just as valuable as the material fought for. Similar to religious preservation for the future, bunker style protection can allure a sense of preparedness for the unknown to come, however obscure or ill prepared for. In Cormac McCarthy's catastrophe ridden novel, The Road, safety has lost any form of confidence and optimism it once had. Replaced with the ever looming doubts and fears, that can’t leave any fortitude trusted. In the face of good fortune, misgiving prevail. The bunker is the pinnacle of hope and prosperity for the man and boy, however, fear leads their abandonment from protection.
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Truly a dream for the boy who has never experienced such abundance of basic necessities, their find is the salvation of what appears the only remaining semblance of human decency remaining. Filled with basic supplies and a stash of cans, only delving deeper into the abyss man has found himself. “Paper towels, toilet paper, paper plates. Plastic trash bags stuffed with blankets. He held his forehead in his hand. Oh my God, he said” (138). The nature of the reality with which the man and boy find themselves is no clearer on display than here. In the midst of what could be the greatest windfall the two could conceive of, the shocking show of good fortune is paper plates. As dejected as the circumstances feel, the hope is real, the boy is real. His ideals are of a lost world, yet their value to the new one is worth so much more. He is the single light of humanity in a godless world of darkness. Yet it is the father who knowingly bares the burden of maintaining the boy. Just as prometheus, the man carries the fire for mankind to one day release it to the cold and starving. Knowing his punishment for his actions yet retaining the necessity they held. The boy never ceases in his ideals as a “Good Guy”. “Are you alright? Yes. What is it? Do you think we should thank the people? The people? The people who gave us all this” (145).No person is lost in the eyes of the boy, even
Truly a dream for the boy who has never experienced such abundance of basic necessities, their find is the salvation of what appears the only remaining semblance of human decency remaining. Filled with basic supplies and a stash of cans, only delving deeper into the abyss man has found himself. “Paper towels, toilet paper, paper plates. Plastic trash bags stuffed with blankets. He held his forehead in his hand. Oh my God, he said” (138). The nature of the reality with which the man and boy find themselves is no clearer on display than here. In the midst of what could be the greatest windfall the two could conceive of, the shocking show of good fortune is paper plates. As dejected as the circumstances feel, the hope is real, the boy is real. His ideals are of a lost world, yet their value to the new one is worth so much more. He is the single light of humanity in a godless world of darkness. Yet it is the father who knowingly bares the burden of maintaining the boy. Just as prometheus, the man carries the fire for mankind to one day release it to the cold and starving. Knowing his punishment for his actions yet retaining the necessity they held. The boy never ceases in his ideals as a “Good Guy”. “Are you alright? Yes. What is it? Do you think we should thank the people? The people? The people who gave us all this” (145).No person is lost in the eyes of the boy, even