The Road Thematic Analysis: Morality

A father and his son, known to the reader only by pronouns or improper nouns, take venture on the road, traveling south along a dark and desolate landscape, constantly on the search for food, resources, and people. They live by the day, eating what little they find and rationing food for subsequent days. Supplies such as the all important tarp are carried around in a shopping cart. All the while, there is a lingering hope as well as fright of the evident .The man, struggling to keep himself and the boy alive, exhibits several characteristics that notably represent the survival of the fittest. However, common human morality, regardless of one 's culture, tends to contradict the aspects of survival of the fittest. For instance, values taught to one as a child in today 's modern society such as helping others, sharing, thinking about others before oneself, and a generally kind and positive attitude go against many of the actions that one must perform in order to survive in nature. Throughout this very well written book, there is a prevalence of continued conflict between the aspects of human morality and survival of the fittest represented as prominent and commonly overlooked theme which is displayed mainly through the Father 's character. Among any of the main events such as encounters with other people, the survivalist character of the father is shown, which is only contradicted by the boy, who resembles the Father 's morality. With this contradiction, there is an spark of internal conflict in the man raising several questions. The most important of these is perhaps how important it is for the boy to learn ethics and human morality. There is a part of the man that wants to believe that the world, though thrown into an utterly irreversible disaster , will still live on in its natural state before the occurrence of this apocalyptic disaster, yet there is another part that wishes for the goodwill of his son, which can only be accomplished by teaching him proper

Bibliography: 1. McCarthy, Cormac (2006). The Road. New York: Vintage Books 2. Markie, Peter (2008). "Rationalism vs. Empiricism." <http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rationalism-empiricism/#1.2>