The Road Summed up
What would you do if you had lost everything? Everything and everyone you had ever loved was gone due to tragedy. The world is gloomy and ashened. The term ‘society’ is no longer a familiar word. People have regrouped in clan like packs and you are alone. When the world has fallen apart what do you hold on to? The book ‘The Road’ by Cormac McCarthy faces a similar situation. Most have already lost their humanity, however, some strive to keep what it left of what they used to be. Putting all of the gruesome sights of heads on sticks and cannibals aside, there are truly some individuals trying to keep their hearts warm and whole. The boy and his attempts to help the helpless, the father and his struggle to stay alive, and the family at the end of the novel are all acts of the struggle of humanity. Throughout the book the boy probably most often keeps his humanity more so than any other. It’s almost as if without him humanity would cease to exist. "You're not the one who has to worry about everything.” “He looked up, his wet and grimy face. Yes I am, he said. I am the one." (Cormac, 218) I was never very sure if the reason why he wanted to help others was because of who he was as a person or if it was due to the fact that he was just a child and it was matter of his innocence. There are numerous incidences of which this shows. For example, there’s a part in the novel where the man and the boy find a man struck by lightning on the side of the road. The man says that there was nothing that they can do for him. The boy becomes so overwhelmed he begins to cry right there on the spot because he too was helpless in this situation. Earlier they came across an old man by the name of Ely. His age made him fragile and the boy couldn’t help but recognize this. He was so set on feeding this man he had an argument with his father, the only other person he truly has in this world just because he wanted to help another. In the end the boy won, and Ely wound up staying with the