Exploring Mccarthy's Vision: a Deep Dive into "The Road"

Author and Background

Cormac McCarthy is a beloved American author that is best known for his rather tenebrous themes and post-apocalyptic worlds. In his career McCarthy has managed to publish a total of ten novels, win the Pulitzer Prize for his 2006 novel The Road and release an original screenplay titled The Counselor. Since the 2013 release of The Counselor McCarthy has managed to keep out of the spotlight and maintain a rather private life, however fans of the author’s work still express their appreciation for McCarthy through foundations such as the Cormac McCarthy Society.

Charles Joseph McCarthy, also known by the family nickname, Cormac, was born on July 20, 1993 in Providence, Rhode Island into a rather wealthy family. Cormac and his five siblings were quickly moved to Knoxville, Tennessee where they would ultimately spend the majority of their childhood. Living in a well-off home surrounded by poverty ridden shacks seemed to spark McCarthy’s interest in “the lives being lived in the impoverished homes as well as Knoxville’s underworld” (“Cormac McCarthy”). This interest in examining the lives of people who lived on the outskirts of society would surface again through his many post-apocalyptic works. McCarthy attended the University of Tennessee only to drop-out to join the air force, and then later return to University to drop-out once more. Nonetheless, undeterred by his lack of a college diploma he quickly began working on his first novel, The Orchard Keeper. McCarthy would later go on to marry his first wife, Lee Holleman, who would bear him a son. He would then divorce and remarry once more. McCarthy’s son, Cullen, proved to impact McCarthy greatly as most of his later works such as, The Road, The Gardener’s Son and The Orchard focused on the relationship of a father and son.

Perhaps McCarthy’s most well-known post-apocalyptic novel is The Road. Set in the future after an unknown event that leaves America covered in ashes, a man and his son journey south all while trying to survive the perils of this new “God-less” world. Venturing out of his usual comfort zone, McCarthy gave his first televised interview to Oprah Winfrey in 2007 admitting his young son was the inspiration behind The Road. McCarthy went as far as telling Winfrey, “I thought a lot about my little boy. You have a child when you are older, and it wrenches you up out of your nap and makes you look at things fresh” (The Oprah Winfrey Show, 2008). McCarthy’s intense instinct to be there for his son is mirrored by the unnamed father in The Road, as the father hides, searches and starves all for the benefit of his son.

Summary

In Cormac McCarthy’s 2006 novel The Road, a father and son, also known as the man and the boy, are travelling south along America’s highways trying to escape the harsh winters of the north. Set in post-apocalyptic America, the lush green grasses of the world’s most nationalistic nation have been replaced by gray skies, fires and ashes. McCarthy never directly states the cause of all this destruction nor the location of the story, but the reader can assume the story takes place in America because the man says, “these are our roads…the state roads” (McCarthy, pg.42).

As their journey begins the man recounts the day the boy’s mother committed suicide due to her lack of optimism for survival. The man carries this bitter memory with him the whole story as he is constantly reminded by the possibility of death with only two bullets in his possession. Travelling on, the man and the boy come across an abandoned grocery store that holds a relic of the old world; a Coco-Cola machine. The man presents this treat to the boy as they both suddenly realize that they will not encounter such pleasures like this often. After days of walking and scavenging, the man and the boy encounter a band of armed marauders processing down the road in their truck. Luckily, the pair is only seen by one marauder, but the end result of their interaction leaves the man with just one bullet.

Majority of The Road is filled with scenes of daily survival customs with the man and the boy, however, towards the middle of the novel the duo come upon a seemingly untouched and luxurious mansion. Unfortunately, all that glitters is not gold, as the two find a group of naked captives in the basement that are being prepared for a cannibal’s supper. They immediately flee from the house just as the captures return. Marching on down the road, the father and son share a burst of luck as they find a little piece of heaven in a bunker. Filled with endless amounts of canned goods and hygiene products, they hunker down for a couple of days before stocking up on supplies and continuing on their way.

Finally, the man and the boy reach the ocean’s shoreline further down south, only to discover it no longer shimmers with beautiful shades of blue. Nonetheless, they camp out for a couple days and stock up on supplies from an old boat. Unfortunately, at this point the man’s minor cough introduced in the beginning of the novel has worsened and is now violent and accompanied with blood. As the pair leave the beach and walk through the nearest abandoned town, the man is shot in the leg with an arrow from a hiding sniper. Despite his best efforts to bandage the wound, the man eventually accepts his fate and lays down to die in the boy’s arms. The story ends with the boy meeting a new man on the road that welcomes him into his family, that which includes a little boy, a little girl and his wife. The reader is left to hope the best for the boy as he struggles to remain a good guy within his new family, and within this new world.

Cultural Relevance

McCarthy’s 2006 novel, The Road, seemed to capture audiences’ attention by creating a world that managed to melt away the natural barriers that brought common law and morality into modern day society. Upon first glance, one could argue that The Road centers around a theme of a lack of religion and morality, however the opposite is exactly what makes this novel so relevant to a nation of Christians. According to the Pew Research Center concerning religion and public life, Christians make up 70.6% of the American population (Wormald, 2015). With this statistic in mind, what makes the story so compelling to readers is the man and the boy’s determination to preserve their morality by adhering to Christian inspired guidelines. This is evidenced time and time again, specifically when the boy feels guilty for eating the bounty of food they found in the bunker and says, “we’re sorry you didn’t get to eat [this food] and we hope you’re safe in heaven with God” (McCarthy, pg. 146). Despite the lack of distinction of ownership in this chaotic world, the boy seems to still respect the eighth commandment, “thou shalt not steal” (Exodus 25:2). This reoccurring theme pops up again when the dying man reminds the boy “[he] has to carry the fire,” the fire being metaphorical hope for the future. (McCarthy, pg. 278). This is strikingly similar to the main concept in Christianity of holding out hope until the arrival of heaven.

By viewing The Road as a novel with Christian themes, each choice the man and boy make become increasing more interesting as readers are left to decipher what they would do in survival situations. This is why The Road will be always be of some relevance to society, as humans know that it is human nature to say one thing about survival and do the other when one is actually in the moment. This exact concept actually takes hold of the dying man in the novel, as his plans to take his son to heaven with him crumble as he realizes “[he] can’t hold [his] son dead in [his arm]. [He] thought [he] could but [he] can’t” (McCarthy, pg.279). Perhaps this phenomenon is why people seem to freeze in emergency situations. These types of flight or fight situations have even appeared on popular sitcoms such as season 5 episode 10 of Full House. In this episode, Becky goes into labor with twins and her husband, Jessie, who is usually calm and collected, freaks out to the point where his appendix has to be removed (“Becky in Labor | Full House). Although this example is inherently funny, the unexpected response to an emergency situation that humans will always struggle with, is exactly what makes works like The Road forever culturally relevant. No matter how much humans advance in technology, is it very unlikely that human nervous systems will come to a point where the “flight or fight” response is no longer needed.

Lastly, what makes The Road relevant to culture and relatable to many readers, is the man’s determination to do anything to keep his son safe in the book. Parents often say that they would do anything for their child, even going as far to further say that they would take a bullet for them. This sense of responsibility and devotion to one’s own blood is seen multiple times in The Road as the man is always putting the boy first. When a scavenger lurches at the boy in attempt to harm him, the man “leveled the pistol and fired” (McCarthy, pg. 66). It is easy for one, living with the comforts of modern technology, to say they would do anything for their child. Usually extreme dangers are not that prevalent within quiet suburban life, however, the fact that The Road presented a world where danger is around corner really put parents in a position to think how far they would go for their child. The circumstances surrounding McCarthy’s terrifying world poses the complicated question: would one be able to kill in order to protect their child?

Focused Analysis: Book Structure

McCarthy’s novel, The Road, is written without using many conventional grammatical and structural formats that are typical of novels. The Road has no quotation marks, chapters or named characters within its pages.

Unlike most chapter books, The Road has no marked chapters. At first, readers may notice this and think nothing of it, however, these stylistic choices actually help further develop the tone of world the man and the boy exist within. The lack of division within the book creates the illusion that the journey the man and the boy face is endless and tireless. This is evidenced as the man looks around the world and observes, “no lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself” (McCarthy, pg.54). Perhaps another reason there are no chapters to indicate the passage of time, is McCarthy’s desire to make survival unpredictable. Usually, the end of a chapter is packaged up in a nice neat conclusion that makes the reader feel satisfied, however, there are no satisfying stopping points when it comes to survival. If one wants to survive in a harsh and lawless world, then they must always be on their toes. They must always be looking ahead and asking, “what next?’ The same concept applies to the reader, as with each further step they take in McCarthy’s world, the more on edge they become.

Although the man and the boy exchange many words in the book that help to paint a picture of their relationship, McCarthy never frames these exchanges with quotation marks. McCarthy’s choice to do so may be, as Lawrence Yen from teenink.com explains it best, “to emphasize the lawlessness of the world.” The time and place the man and the boy exist within, is place with no laws or consequences for violent behavior. So, since McCarthy’s world does not follow the typical “rules” of a society, it is only fit that the book structure itself break the rules typically used in literature. The lack of quotation marks when a character speaks, also forces the reader to pay close attention to the scene. Thus, sucking the reader even more so into this fictional world.

Lastly, one may notice that McCarthy chooses not to give specific names to the two main characters of his novel. Perhaps this deliberate choice can be linked to the idea that McCarthy wishes his characters to remain rather vague so that they could represent anyone. The fiery destruction of a nation is typically not something people expect, which presents the concept that this could happen at any given moment. In a post-apocalyptic world no one would be safe from the wrath and consequences of nature’s actions. The namelessness of the characters allows the reader to fully put themselves in the shoes of the man or the boy without the dilemma of overlooking the identity of a character. Perhaps another reason the two main characters remain nameless is that their identities no longer matter. Everyone they knew in the calmness if their old life is long gone, and no one would recognize any of the ties to their name they once had. Within this harsh world they are no one but survivors like everyone else.

Evaluation

Cormac McCarthy’s The Road is a thought-provoking novel that really forces the reader to question what their morals and actions would be in a post-apocalyptic setting. McCarthy’s use of unconventional book structure breaks down all the regular formalities in a novel and puts the reader face to face with the story without any distractions. The main characters’ will to continue to do good in a world of evil makes it easy to love and root for their success throughout the novel. Despite their desire to do good, the man and the boy’s actions will still leave readers to try and decipher between actions justified by survival and what is moral. The Road’s only downfall seems to be a lack of explanation as to what exactly happened to put the world in such a horrible state. With mentions of dark skies and gray ash covering everything one could assume some sort of nuclear bomb exploded, but nothing is presented to directly validate this idea. Although McCarthy’s intention was to most likely present the importance of the present when it comes to survival, an explanation for the destruction would enhance readers’ sympathy for the main characters. Despite that one shortcoming, The Road is a spectacular read that strips away all the luxuries of modern day society and presents humans with our main goal throughout any time period: to survive.