Good Vs. Evil In The Road By Cormac Mccarthy

The Road, a novel written by Cormac McCarthy has many recurring themes throughout the story, and McCarthy effectively develops all these themes through his writing. Of these themes are paternal love, death, and isolation. However, the main theme of this novel is the moral concept of good vs. evil.

The concept of good vs. evil is used in many different books, in The Road this theme is developed through foreshadowing, structure and perspective. The book focuses on the story of father and son traveling through the burnt roads of America, making necessary decisions to survive. In the very beginning of the novel, the young boy doesn’t understand the concept of good vs. evil due to him being born into a post-apocalyptic setting. When they are

first chased by cannibalistic men, the boy asks his father if those were the “bad guys”. To reassure him, the father says the men were the bad guys and that they are the good guys. Throughout the novel the boy keeps asking the father if they themselves are the good guys or bad guys and the father always responds by saying they are the good guys. “He [The Boy] sat there cowled in the blanket. After a while he looked up. Are we still the good guys? he said. [The Man:] Yes. We're still the good guys. [The Boy:] And we always will be. [The Man:] Yes. We always will be.” (McCarthy p. 120) The child’s perception of good vs. evil is skewed both because he is so young, and because the post-apocalyptic world lacks morals overall. When cannibals and murderers are running around it is safe to say that there is a lack of moral value. “People sitting on the sidewalk in the dawn half immolate smoking in their clothes. Like failed sectarian suicides. Others would come to help them. Within a year there were fires on the ridges and deranged chanting. The screams of the murdered. By day the dead impaled on spikes along the road. What had they done? He thought that in the history of the world it might even be that there was more punishment than crime but he took small comfort from it.” (McCarthy p. 53)

In this world, there is skewed amounts of moral good and evil, evil heavily outweighing the good, so when the boy first sees his father kill someone, he starts to believe that they are becoming the bad guys.

This event happens in the beginning of the book, a strange man grabs the young boy and threatens to kill him. This is the one time in the book that the father has to directly kill someone, he ends up having to shoot him. Another instance of this type of encounter is when a thief comes to steal everything they have, but they end up finding the thief and taking all their stuff back. This ultimately destines the thief to die. Throughout the story the father tries to influence the son to think of the world as black and white, a strong line drawn between good and evil. He also refers to everyone they meet on the road as “bad guys”. This reassures the boy at first, but then recoils when the boy first starts to believe he and his father are becoming evil. McCarthy develops this theme mainly through repetition, using the boy’s naive character to his advantage. The boy asks if they are “the bad guys or the good guys” various times in this novel. It constantly reminds the reader that there is a line drawn between good and evil, but the father and son have to make whatever decisions that are necessary in order to survive. Sometimes their decisions are morally right, and sometimes they are morally wrong. It all comes down to the fact that in a post apocalyptic setting, such as the one presented in the novel, there really is no good vs. evil. It is simply surviving versus not surviving. The boy slowly begins to believe this towards the end of the novel, that no matter their decisions everything would come to an end, and that they can only do what is necessary to survive, regardless of the moral

value.

In conclusion, it is clear to see that good vs. evil is the central concept of The Road. The idea is developed through mainly perspective, but also through foreshadowing and setting. The Road by Cormac McCarthy is renowned as one of the most personal and most tragic stories in literature, inspiring many other series such as The Walking Dead and The Last of Us, both taking place in an apocalyptic setting. As you can see, this novel has many different themes, but the central theme is the moral effect of good vs. evil.