The Road by Cormac McCarthy: Lessons in Hope, Love, & Pursuing Goodness by Josie Blosser

(Note: This review is not spoiler-free)

In times of political unease, it is important to remember the value of books, the lessons and the values that they contain.  Given the current political climate, one of the greatest examples of a book with such values and lessons is the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy, first published in 2006. 

“The Road” is a post-apocalyptic dystopian novel that follows the journey of a father and son in a tarnished version of the Earth. Originally published only five years after the tragic events of 9/11, McCarthy makes the intelligent choice to never name the cause of the apocalypse. Instead, he focuses on its aftermath, in ways that would resonate with a post-9/11 reader. The reader is exposed to a world in which the entirety of civilization has collapsed. There are no laws, no customs. The father and the son are never even named, and instead only called “the man” and “the boy.” In this world, nearly all life has been extinguished and the man and the boy spend the entire novel desperately trying to avoid interactions with others, because the few who remain do not attempt to rebuild, but rather turn into cannibalistic predators. This total collapse of society and even the “us vs. them” mentality would have been understood by a post-9/11 reader. 

However, almost two decades after the book was published, it is a different aspect of the novel that feels most relevant. Or perhaps, most important. Despite never directly mentioning the exact cause of the apocalypse, due to the haunting description of the barren landscape, covered in ash, and with freezing temperatures, many have speculated the cause to be nuclear or environmental. Today, environmental and nuclear concerns are still present, and so too is the “us vs. them mindset,” especially in a country as politically divided as the United States. Under new presidential administration many environmental protections have been repealed. With many scientists having said that the year of 2035 is the year of no return for climate change, and others saying that the year of no return has already passed, it’s difficult to feel hope for the future. It might seem easier to block it out, but to ignore this is dangerous–dystopia serves as a warning and the warning is clear. Politically, never has America been so polarized, as political parties become less and less about politics and more about fundamental human rights and moral values. However, it is in these trying times that the themes of McCarthy’s novel are most needed. His novel is a tale of survival, hope, resilience, and the unyielding persistence of goodness and love.  Without hope, change never happens. 

There are several places in the novel where hope and even just survival seem impossible. Often the father and son seem on the brink of death by starvation, and much of the novel passes through their search for food. On top of that, throughout the novel, the man is suffering some lung-related illness, and there are moments early on when it’s unclear if he will make it. Worse still are the terror-drenched pages spent hiding from cannibals as the father must try to both comfort the terrified boy, while also trying to rationalize and come to terms with the fact that he would need to kill his own son in order to protect him from a far worse fate. A quieter moment, but just as devastating, is the flashback where it is revealed that the man’s wife, and the boy’s mother, killed herself rather than face this new world. 

And yet, despite it all, the novel is built on moments of love and hope. The heart of the novel resides in the beautiful and remarkable love that exists between the father and son. This is understandable given that McCarthy got inspired to write the story looking at his son sleeping, referred to the novel as a love story to his son, and fittingly dedicated the book to his son. Despite the words “I love you” never being spoken in the novel, the love is obvious both in the father’s inner monologue and in precious moments. The father mentions several times that the world that they inhabit is Godless, but there are numerous times when he compares his son to God, to holiness and divinity in general. This is a beautiful testament of the father’s love and devotion for his son, but also perhaps, a piece of advice: In a Godless land, make your own God. That is, more broadly, give yourself something to believe in.  The wife points out before she commits suicide that the man would never be able to live for himself, and throughout “The Road” the truth of her words is apparent. The man fights to stay alive because he loves his son and cannot bear to be parted from him. He fights for his son because in his son he sees beauty and goodness that seem so far removed from their world. 

The fight is not easy, nor does the love make it so. The reality of the world they live in is not changed because love exists. The moments of hope and beauty are small, but touching and invaluable. They find a few weeks of peace in a bunker. The boy tastes Coke for the first time. A scene on the beach where they shoot a flare and watch it like a firework. These moments are sweet, but they don’t last. The boy’s first taste of Coke is marred by the awareness that he’ll never have it again. The day after they set off the flare gun, the boy falls dangerously ill. Despite the rarity and fleetingness of these moments, the love is always there, and so too, in small ways is the hope. 

In a world such as theirs, hope does not mean waiting for the world to change into someplace new. It means continuing on, and finding goodness and beauty where you are. The father struggles with this immensely, only seeing good and beauty in his son, seeing the rest of the world as worthless. There are many moments where the father thinks they would be better off dead. The boy, however, perhaps because he was born into an apocalyptic world, finds empathy and compassion, which helps extend the father’s view. In one moment, the two of them pass an old man on the road, and the boy convinces his father to give him some food. In another, the two of them are robbed of their supplies, and must catch up to the man who stole them. The father not only takes their stuff back, but makes the man strip bare, which is fatal in the freezing temperatures. The boy begs and cries for his father to not do it, and when he does it anyway, he begs for him to go back. Eventually, the man gives in, and although they can’t find the person who robbed them, they leave his clothes and shoes out for him. It’s true he probably died, but the mere act of going back with the intention of offering mercy is a huge growth for the father and a moment in which goodness and compassion exist for him. Similarly, as we must now search for goodness and compassion in the world around us, it is also important to try and find it in ourselves. 

The father constantly thinks about the goodness that exists in his son. He doesn’t understand it, it gets in the way of the father’s survival mindset, which is to do whatever it takes to survive and protect themselves. Yet, despite that he still values the goodness that is fundamental to his son’s being. He wants to protect that goodness, and gives in to the boy’s whims when they can afford it. The faith takes root in him, in a heartbreaking moment as the man dies, as he assures the boy, and perhaps himself too, that goodness will find the boy again, that it has before, and will always continue to do so. Despite what may seem like a sad ending, his words are immediately proved true. A group of other people find the boy, and take him in, and they even have another child with them, which is something the boy has longed for. 

In the current political climate, where there are very real reasons to be afraid, as rights are stripped away and the division within this nation grows, it’s important to think of “The Road”. “The Road” highlights the continued human pursuit of goodness, hope, and love, even in apocalyptic times, the belief that it is there, that you will find it. It is not easy, hope and survival are something that is fought for and hard-won. Yet, never for a second is it implied that the two could have ever survived without hope and love. They needed it to keep going. When fear is running wild, as it is now, one must remember that you can’t survive on fear alone. You must find hope, believe in goodness, give love where you can. If you must start small like the father, and find one good thing in your life, before you can be like the boy and search and find goodness everywhere that is okay. Just remember it’s there if you have the courage to search and fight for it.