Mental And Psychological Struggle In Madam Pomfrey's The Road

“Thoughts could leave deeper scars than almost anything else,” Madam Pomfrey. Through the novel The Road characters were faced with mental and psychological struggles that will lead up to either a demise or continued life. The mental and psychological struggles found throughout the novel could be in any of the characters Psychological struggles were in the father, the son, the mother, the man whom was shot by the father, the elder man, and anyone else that was living in a world that was literally dying if not already dead. Starting with the father’s psychological struggles, the first being his wife’s death. When his wife committed suicide he felt like it was his fault as seen on page 38, “The dream bore the look of sacrific but he thought …show more content…
While on the arms of this man at knife point his father held his gun and shot the man in the head, stated on page 76, “He dove and grabbed the boy and rolled and came up holding him against his chest with the knife at his throat. The man had already dropped to the ground and he swung with him and leveled the pistol and fired from a two handed position…The man fell back instantly and lay with blood bubbling from the hole in his forehead.” After the incident he must have had tons of thoughts running through his mind such as why and how could his father could have done that to another human being. Although the father was just saving the boy’s life the boy did not seem to acknowledge it as what it was, he took it as his father being a horrible man or a “bad guy”. After the incident the boy did not speak to his father, even after the father apologized to him. A young boy usually wouldn’t have to witness such great thing so when he did it caused a mental struggle within himself, such as if he should’ve just die too which is stated on page 64, “I wish I was with my mom. He didnt answer. He sat beside the small figure wrapped in the quilts and blankets. After a while he said: You mean you wish that you were dead. Yes. You musnt say that. But I do. Dont say it. It’s a bad thing to say. I cant help it.” The …show more content…
There is no doubt that the mother had some psychological struggles to decide that she just could not live in the world with her husband and child anymore. And I see why, but she must have had way more psychological struggles after her death than before it. For her to think of death as her lover, wanting to kill her son, and referring to herself as a slut takes quite of bit of mind tricks. Even though she was not a living being she still had the psychology struggles that she must’ve affected her before she killed herself. When she came to the father she referred to death as her lover which identifies as her loving death and sees it as something that protects her and saves her from living in a life of despair, expressed on page 66, “You can think of me as a faithless slut if you like. I’ve taken a new lover. He can give me what you cannot. Death is not a lover. Oh yes he is.” This is also mentioning that