Analysis Of The Road By Cormac Mccarthy

1025 Words3 Pages

Lillian Shumaker
Professor Tribble
English 152
May 8, 2015
The Road Cormac McCarthy, author of The Road, illustrates what life in a post apocalyptic world would resemble after humanity has been eradicated. In this deteriorating world, chaos reigns and death is constant. Without a sovereign state to establish laws and guidelines, individuals must make their own judgments in order to survive, causing a clash between good and evil. According to the Leviathan, morals do not exist in man’s natural state because to be in a natural state is to be free from authority (Williams). This barren world displays human life in its most simplistic form, causing men and women to act upon their own will for survival. The apocalypse in The Road marks the end …show more content…

The minimal punctuation and fragmented language incorporated throughout the novel serve to enhance the absence of luxuries that the desolate world occupies. For example, the words “cant, dont, wont” and more do not have apostrophes (McCarthy). Just as the man and the boy suffer from having minimal supplies to live on, the sentences throughout the book endure minimal grammar and lack of structure. By highlighting this connection, the writing style can be described as lifeless just as the world inside of the novel stands. Although the missing punctuation is deemed incorrect to today’s standards, the world in which the book takes place is absent of any structure. The end of the world doesn’t deploy any standards or guidelines because there is nothing left for a society to exist. Without authority to give society laws and structure, humans do not have any morals or guidelines to live on. Cormac McCarthy successfully demonstrates this through his unique use of …show more content…

Everything that was once beautiful has been destroyed and continues to fade. Trees are still falling, colors cease to exist, and ash continues to take over everything. In the beginning of the novel, the days are described as being “more gray…(than) before” (McCarthy 3). During their journey, the boy and the man confront many evils with road agents and “bad” people that travelers confront. When coming upon what was once a grand estate, the travelers are overwhelmed with a sense of tragedy and wretchedness that the cannibals have given to the house. Desperation takes over what is left of the human race, causing people to resort to degrading acts to survive. These cannibals and rapists symbolize the deterioration of the human race and exemplify the ugliness at world’s

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