Review of The Road by Cormac McCarthy

1191 Words3 Pages

In Cormac McCarthy’s Sci-Fi novel, “The Road”, two mysterious people, a father and his curious son, contact survival of the fittest during tragic apocalyptic times. With a shopping cart of food and supplies, they excavate into the remains of tattered houses, torn buildings and other sheltering places, while averting from troublesome communes. In the duration of the novel, they’re plagued with sickness that temporarily unable them to proceed onward. Due to the inopportune events occurring before the apocalypse, the wife of the son and father committed suicide due to these anonymous survivors lurking the remains of earth. The last people on earth could be the ‘bad guys’ as the young boy describes them. In page 47, the wife reacted to this, stating, “Sooner or later they will catch us and they will kill us. They will rape me. They'll rape him. They are going to rape us and kill us and eat us and you won't face it. You'd rather wait for it to happen. But I can't.”

This book fits into the Science Fiction category since society has collapsed, reaching a total downfall in civilization. Mysteriously, the reasoning for the apocalypse is never hinted throughout the novel. Only the reader is forced to infer the possible It is only written from a first person view to third person, limited with the interactions and surroundings between the lone father and the prying son. As they cooperate in order to find their sources of survival, the two wanderers share their thoughts about other survivors around the world. In different parts of the coast, they’ll soon discover the items or necessary entities that should be of interest or deeply forgotten.

During travels, the two characters, son and father, excavate through homes and buildings filled wi...

... middle of paper ...

...acters, an unidentified apocalypse, and specks of detail, allowing readers to imagine a desolated setting on a blank canvas. Its two main characters, who symbolize the last strength for the human race, are forced onto a road that stretches to the coastal shores. The absent presence of everyday humans, plants, and wildlife generally fits the science fiction genre. Conversations between both father and son are limited to plain words that the child may only comprehend to. As a result, all responses produce disheartening lines of gloom and obscurity, though the child remains innocent during the days of darkness. He is also an icon of hope that the father holds onto, endlessly tending to the child’s living. Overall, this novel presents the terrible apocalypse in the modern times of before, to the aftermath between two characters who will soon meet their fate.

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