The Road- Death

The Road Essay
The thought of death is different for every person. Some look at it as peaceful, while others are scared of leaving their lives behind. Death is a strong theme in the book, The Road. The man and the son are faced with death on a daily basis, in their own lives, and in watching others lives on the road. The theme of death in The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, is very prominent and the father and son deal with it in different ways as time goes along. The father and the son encounter death many times in the novel and they each deal with it in different ways. The father has a cough that is continuously getting worse. The cough is a symbol of death in my mind. The father chooses to ignore the signs that death may be closer than it seems by ignoring the cough and acting as if the son cannot hear it. The father pretends that the cough entirely isn’t there. The son on the other hand, sees how the cough is affecting his father. He worries about him and his health when he hears him coughing throughout the day and at night. The son sees that the cough isn’t invisible and it is affecting not only his father’s life, but his own as well. The thought of death to the father seems unacceptable. The father isn’t going to let anything or anyone get in the way of their survival. Whether it is starvation, freezing cold, or shelter, the man cannot accept death. The son though, seems okay with death. He sometimes feels like they should give up and not worry about food or things of that sort anymore. The thought of death scares the man, while the thought of death seems peaceful to the son. The son and father have difference views on death because of their age difference and difference in beliefs of hope. As the man and boy travel through the road, they encounter many issues. Whether it is meeting bad people on the road, not being able to start a fire, or having a limited food supply, the two are always on the lookout for what will happen next. The man tries never to show