Examples Of Attachment In The Road

Clark

Katherine Jackson

English 112L

26 February 2014

Attachment: The Need for Reliance in The Road In Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Road, the boy develops a rare bond with his father since he is the only person he has by his side. Attachment is a psychological and emotional connectedness that occurs between human beings. This attachment can last for short or even long periods of time. John Bowlby’s theory of attachment states that when one person is emotionally connected to another, that is when attachment begins ("Attachment Styles"). In the novel, the boy forms a safe haven with the man and progresses into a secure base, according to Bowlby’s characteristics of the attachment theory. Throughout the novel, the boy demonstrates his attachment

The man keeps trying to teach the boy to be on his own, due to unknown future, although the boy remains securely attached. Safe haven attachment can be brought upon by experiences that may have been scary, in turn making the boy that much more attached to the man, his caregiver. Many incidents in the novel happen where this theory is displayed. There is a house the man and the boy come upon and discovered that it is a house where cannibals take cover. Although the cannibals are not there at the time, they discover people trapped in the basement. This experience once again is frightening for the boy, leading him to resort to his safe haven attachment. During this scene, the man tries to keep the boy safe at a distance, telling him, “Just wait here (McCarthy 110), the boy replies, “I’m going with you... “I am scared” (McCarthy 110). The conversation shows that no matter what, the boy has to be near his father to feel a sense of safety, due to the dangerous situation. The boy fears being alone more than entering into a hazardous circumstance, continuing the safe haven trait towards the

Even at the last parts of the novel, the boy continues to see his father as a safe haven. The man is getting progressively more ill, and by the end of the novel, he passes away. Nevertheless, the boy still perceives his father as a safe haven figure. Although his father dies, “He stayed three days” (McCarthy 281). The boy does not leave his father’s side, demonstrating the fact that he is still expressing safe haven’t attachment according to Bowlby’s theory. The only place the boy would go during this time was through the woods to the road to check his surroundings. However, this shift in the boy expresses his ability to separate from his father’s growth in attachment from safe haven to secure base. Bowlby’s secure base attachment occurs when the guardian acts as a safe home base to return to after exploration ("Attachment Styles"). Because his father had acted as his security for all the previous days, he feels the most comfort near him and stayed in close proximity to him despite the fact he is dead. Accordingly, Bowlby’s theory relates to the boy’s behavior throughout the