The
Road:
Introduction
of Characters:
The
Road,
written by Cormac McCarthy, is a post apocalyptic fictional novel set
in North America. The
Road identifies
it's characters with simple pronouns, never attaching names. The
main characters are no exception to this theme. The
Road identifies
it's two main characters as the man and the boy. This style
implements a sense of ambiguity and vagueness that ironically allow the audience to connect with the main characters on a deeper level.
By failing to identify the characters with names, the author
has allowed for the main characters to be anyone, even you. Their
identity does not matter to the story as no one has retained their
sense of self through the apocalypse. Their names are
irrelevant, only their actions bear weight. However, regardless
of their lack of names, these characters posses no lack in depth.
The
Man:
From
the beginning of the novel it is evident that the man cares deeply
for the boy like any father would. Due to this, the man often
sacrifices his own self benefit to care for the boy and search for a
better life for his son. The man is focused on one thing, the
survival of his son. The man disallows himself to dream of his
wife as succumbing to thoughts of past happiness is to lose focus and
succumb to death. Death, to the man, is the inability to
protect his son, and therefor is not an option. The man shows
mercy in front of his son, maintaining the model of "the good
guy", an attempt to raise his son with morals. However,
when the life of his son is threatened the man does what needs to be
done, killing before the boy if necessary.
The
Boy:
The boy, being just a child, possess many fears. Fears of death,
enclosures, and strangers dictate the boys life as expected.
However, one fear resides within the boy that plagues his
identity. The boy fears abandonment, needing to be reminded of
the man's presence. The boy's mother had left the family unable
to bear the sight of her family being raped, killed, and eaten, an
end she thought to be inevitable. The mother told the man of
her regrets in not killing the boy, prior to setting out into the
night to die alone. By the morning the man and the boy set out
for salvation, and the boy had lost his mother. While the boy
carries around dark memories acquired by living a life in a world
that as fallen he remains merciful and innocent, a quality protected
by his father.
Your development of the reasons why the author does not include names was very strong. However, I thought you could have possibly made more connections between the ideas in the introduction and the discussion of the two characters. Does the reader hold respect for the man and feel sympathy for the boy?
ReplyDeleteWhat overarching ideas about family do you see developing early in the book, especially considering that the apocalypse just occurred? Does it seem like the author is trying to display the idea that family matters most in this book?
ReplyDeleteAaron, your discussion of the significance of the characters' lack of names is insightful, as that is, I think, the key to the power the characters hold. They are any man, any boy, any of us. I think your discussion of the relationship between the two is good, as it's clear that they each need the other; the father to continue to go on, the son, as protection from all the evil that exists in the world.
ReplyDeleteHow do you see the memories of the characters as impacting their present lives, as the father knows a time before this one, whereas the son does not?
Watch some typos (apostrophes, etc).
I like your explanation of the reasoning behind the lack of names. What do you mean when you say that the man shows Mercy in front of the boy? Are you referring to when he was about to let the other man go? I thought of that as more strategic; if he shot the gun the people by the truck would hear it.
ReplyDelete