The Role Of God In Cormac Mccarthy's The Road

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In the post-apocalyptic novel, The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, a man and his son travel south through the ruins and ash of their demolished home. Crippled by fear, starvation, and loneliness, the man and his son struggle to maintain physical, mental, and emotion health. Throughout the novel, the characters remain unnamed, with little description of their physical appearance. The man shares all of his beliefs, memories, qualms, and feelings through his thoughts and conversations with the boy. The man has many compelling convictions referencing The Holy Bible and his unwavering belief in God. However, these accounts often contradict each other. Throughout the novel, the existence of God is indefinite. The ambiguity of the novel relates to the ambiguity of God’s existence; the characters are left in the dark about what is to come throughout their journey, just as they are left to wonder whether God’s light is illuminated or diminished among the wreckage of their forgotten world.
At the beginning of the novel, the man describes the scenery he and the boy witness as they venture down the road. He describes the day as a void, godless land and the night as dark and cold. The lack of light and life in the novel symbolizes the absence of God. John notes, “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the …show more content…

The man assures the boy that they are good people, and that there’s a fire burning within their hearts. The book of Hebrews notes, “for our God is a consuming fire.” (New International Version. Hebrews. 12. 29.). The phrase, “carrying the fire,” simply means that the boy is carrying God within his heart. With the inferno of God radiating within the boy, the boy may act as a prophet. Fire is a contagious substance and when it begins to spread, it becomes difficult to

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