Good And Evil In The Road By Cormac Mccarthy

The Road by Cormac McCarthy revolves around a man and his son, who are on a journey to the coast. In this post-apocalyptic world, the inhabitants have lost their humanity and have resorted to cannibalism or murdering to survive. At this point, most people have forgotten what humanity was like before the world turned harsh and cruel. People, including the man, will throw their morals away in order to survive, but that doesn't mean everyone is inherently evil. Although this book demonstrates what the world would be like in a place with no faith or hope; there is always some light and goodness in all the evil. The Road may represent most of humanity as pessimistic, but throughout the book that changes, the boy is shown as a sign of hope to

most people he encounters.  
     Throughout the book, the man must sometimes take extreme measures, such as, killing or showing no mercy in order to survive, but the boy always reminds the man of his morals. The boy begs his father to show mercy to others because they could be just as scared as the pair is. "Papa? the boy said. Be quiet. He kept his eyes on the thief... Papa please don’t kill the  
 man...The boy was crying," (McCarthy 256), the boy shows remorse and compassion towards the other people throughout their journey because he understands that other people are only trying to fend for themselves.   
         In the article, "The Folks of the Post- Apocalypse: The Road, Religion, and Folklore Studies" it states, "The world and all the light it still possesses, both literal and figurative, center on the boy...

father compares the boy to the stars..." (Toone 91), the boy has been represented as a ray of hope. Hope is something that seems impossible to have in this world, but the boy sees the world in a different perspective than most. In the book, the boy is described as one of the last remaining traces there is of goodness and faith. The man wants to give up since is he exhausted of what the world has become, but he keeps going for his son, who is his only ray of sunlight in the gray earth they inhabit. The child was not born before the destruction happened, yet he is not like the rest of humanity. All of the adults are now in a state of peril because there is so control, there is no human nature left in many people. The adults that are still living are confused and have become violent. Everyone is scared so they do what every human would do in a time of panic, they listen to their human instincts. Every human's basic instincts are to do whatever they must to survive, even if it means being greedy and unforgiving. 

      In this book, the boy categorizes everyone into two groups, the "good guys" and the "bad guys." He believes that his father and him are the good guys since they don’t kill and harm people unless it's absolutely necessary for survival. What sets the duo apart

from most humans is their remaining human nature. They chose to be the good guys by not choosing a cannibalistic  
 lifestyle unlike others who chose the easy way out by eating other humans instead of scavenging for the remaining food left from before the apocalypse. Once humans are put in a world where there is no law, people may start losing their human nature and morals, but that doesn’t mean everyone is the same. "The Boy’s obstinate faith in the existence of other “good guys” is proven true when the father dies, suggesting that in those few good souls resides a hope for humanity... the Boy is able to safely continue his journey with other people who might also benefit from his spiritual guidance" (Sanchez p.22), there are still good people left in the world, although they are much more difficult to find there is still goodness left. The family at the end of the book is proof of a positive and uplifting view of humanity since they took in the boy, so he wouldn’t be left alone to fend for himself. The family consisted of parents and kids which, to the boy, is a sign of safety. The boy knows that kids are scared and lost, so he finds comfort in knowing the family had children like him.   
      Ever since the beginning, the man knew the boy "carried the fire," the boy represents all this is pure and innocent in the violent wasteland. As the man was dying, he told the boy, "...you have to carry the fire. I dont know how to...Yes you do. It's inside you. It was always there. I can see it," (McCarthy 279), the "fire" represents the boy's courage and hope. The figurative growing inside the boy is what makes the boy one of the "good guys." The "bad guys" no longer have that fire in them. The desolating world has broken many, and diminished people's will to continue living. Although most of the world is broken, there is still good in it, the family at the end of the book demonstrates that, when they offer to let the boy tag along. No matter how bad something gets, there will always be a ray of hope somewhere.