The Road Bad
Alex Maloney
English 1010
Professor: Joel Nebres
Date: 3/3/2012
The Good and The Bad In The Road, the earth and its life are irreversibly destroyed. Death almost reaches very near totality; humans, plants and animals all gradually collapse. This seems to be the end of all life. Out of those few survivors, cannibals, the “bad guys”, become a major enterprise. Blood-cults consume one another. Deranged tone becomes the music of the new age. The end of all life also means the end of all civilizations. The world of The Road is now depicted as an intense battle to survival between “bad” and “good” in which as you walk, you hide and a sprained ankle or a deep wound is probably a death sentence. However, evil victory is not this book’s theme. …show more content…
Because, in fact, he doesn’t understand the necessity of hurting others and the refusal of helping others if they are considered themselves the “good guys.” The boy cries when his father refuses to help the man who is struck by the lightning (50), even though clearly, there’s no way to help him. He also constantly asks his father to help others like sparing the thief (257) or sharing food with the old man (163). The boy cannot agree with his father that the right thing to do is to refuse to help others who are in dire need, especially when they do not show any evidence of being dangerous. Surely the father is less trusting and more aware of the potential danger of their journey as the human morality vanishes in the disaster. Even though it is his response to a threat to his son’s safety, the act of killing still makes the father, in an instance, falling into the category of “bad guys.” Is the evil part of human being created by circumstances, or is it something always hidden inside? Also, how much “evil” is considered “evil”? In the broken world of The Road, the distinction of bad and good is vague. Choices in difficult situations are intensely and attentively made. Because, the opportunity cost of making a wrong choice is death. It’s hard for not only the father and the son, but for all of us to persistently maintain what is called to be a “good guy.” The earth is filled with darkness and coldness, where the “banished sun circles like a grieving mother” (McCarthy 32), “the mummied dead everywhere” (24) and “the only thing moved is the blowing ash” (24). In a world where there’s no sign of life, where the basic principles that signify a human is lost, can hope still being kept up? The concept of love and dignity no longer exists in a way that has human meaning. Living in such a hopeless
English 1010
Professor: Joel Nebres
Date: 3/3/2012
The Good and The Bad In The Road, the earth and its life are irreversibly destroyed. Death almost reaches very near totality; humans, plants and animals all gradually collapse. This seems to be the end of all life. Out of those few survivors, cannibals, the “bad guys”, become a major enterprise. Blood-cults consume one another. Deranged tone becomes the music of the new age. The end of all life also means the end of all civilizations. The world of The Road is now depicted as an intense battle to survival between “bad” and “good” in which as you walk, you hide and a sprained ankle or a deep wound is probably a death sentence. However, evil victory is not this book’s theme. …show more content…
Because, in fact, he doesn’t understand the necessity of hurting others and the refusal of helping others if they are considered themselves the “good guys.” The boy cries when his father refuses to help the man who is struck by the lightning (50), even though clearly, there’s no way to help him. He also constantly asks his father to help others like sparing the thief (257) or sharing food with the old man (163). The boy cannot agree with his father that the right thing to do is to refuse to help others who are in dire need, especially when they do not show any evidence of being dangerous. Surely the father is less trusting and more aware of the potential danger of their journey as the human morality vanishes in the disaster. Even though it is his response to a threat to his son’s safety, the act of killing still makes the father, in an instance, falling into the category of “bad guys.” Is the evil part of human being created by circumstances, or is it something always hidden inside? Also, how much “evil” is considered “evil”? In the broken world of The Road, the distinction of bad and good is vague. Choices in difficult situations are intensely and attentively made. Because, the opportunity cost of making a wrong choice is death. It’s hard for not only the father and the son, but for all of us to persistently maintain what is called to be a “good guy.” The earth is filled with darkness and coldness, where the “banished sun circles like a grieving mother” (McCarthy 32), “the mummied dead everywhere” (24) and “the only thing moved is the blowing ash” (24). In a world where there’s no sign of life, where the basic principles that signify a human is lost, can hope still being kept up? The concept of love and dignity no longer exists in a way that has human meaning. Living in such a hopeless