Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Climate change research papers
Climate change research papers
Elements of violence in literature
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Climate change research papers
Imagine a desolate and dismal world that deteriorated with scarce supplies of food and shelter and there is only a few survivors left--including yourself and one of your family members. In hopes of survival, what measures would you take? Would you go to the extreme by cannibalism or committing suicide? On the other hand, would you choose to be on an ethical route by grasping on life delicately? In the midst of the unflinching and empty world with virtually no hope, the father and son in the novel, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, choose to be the “good guys” by staying alive and refraining from cannibalism and thievery. They tried desperately to remain alive by roaming as nomads looking for shelter, edible foods, and avoiding the “bad guys” from preying on them for food. The unconditional love between the father and son sustained their struggle to live and try to stay ethical as possible.
The father and son search for shelter and food in idle commercial stores and the son encounters many dead bodies and questions whether if they were also going to die. The boy is paralyzed by the adversity and suffering he had faced throughout his ruthless journey with his father. The boy questions their fate. He is implying that he is worried for the future. When the boy woke up from his tranquil sleep, he innocently asked his father if “[they] were going to die” (11). His father retorted, “Sometime but not now” (11). The father bluntly answered the question, knowing that he could not hide the inevitability of death. However, the father insisted that they shall strive to stay alive regardless of how poor the circumstances will entail. The father wants to hold on to life delicately, even in the midst of a dangerous and isolated world. The father’s motive to stay alive is to spend time with his son and not to lose hope.
The father was very adamant about keeping the fire alive and keeping hope to stay alive. The son believes his father and follows his ideals of keeping the determination. His mother, unfortunately, lost the hope. In the midst of contemplating on suicide, the mother states that “sooner or later they will catch [them] and they will kill [them]. They will rape [her]. They'll rape [the boy]”(101). The mother confidently states that they will be raped and killed by the blood-hungry thugs.
The boy’s mother will take the easy way out for herself so that she won’t have to fight through the pain. By taking her own life, she will leave the boy in the father’s hands. The boy misses his mother everyday
He always wants to help someone else in need before himself, whereas the father is only concerned about their own personal wellbeings. He “is the one” who worries about their ethical choices and wants to help a stranger in any way he can (259). McCarthy proves the importance of the boy’s spirit of love for other people when his dad dies and he must take the leap of faith to continue along the road with a new family. Despite all the corrupted people they encountered beforehand, the boy meets someone who is “carrying the fire” (129). This mantra by the father and son, symbolizes hope and humanity. The qualities Steinbeck labels for a writer to create in his writings can be summed up in “carrying the fire” since the two never did give up. It is the greatness of the heart and spirit Steinbeck notes that is “inside [them]. [And] [i]t [is] always there” (279). It is noteworthy that even in the midst of death and ashes, the two are able to hold onto their relationship and sanity. The “good guys” can continue to carry meaning and structure in their lives, even in a time where society turned into a battle to survive on the remnants of
... seeing and feeling it’s renewed sense of spring due to all the work she has done, she was not renewed, there she lies died and reader’s find the child basking in her last act of domestication. “Look, Mommy is sleeping, said the boy. She’s tired from doing all out things again. He dawdled in a stream of the last sun for that day and watched his father roll tenderly back her eyelids, lay his ear softly to her breast, test the delicate bones of her wrist. The father put down his face into her fresh-washed hair” (Meyer 43). They both choose death for the life style that they could no longer endure. They both could not look forward to another day leading the life they did not desire and felt that they could not change. The duration of their lifestyles was so pain-staking long and routine they could only seek the option death for their ultimate change of lifestyle.
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.”
McCarthy established his work to demonstrate the facts of immorality, fear, and the end of American standards in the aftermath of a terrible truth. In the novel, the shortage of resources has driven many survivors to murder, robbery, and even cannibalism. The principle of the narrative is the result of the shocking event that life is considered to nothing more than survival. Therefore, people in the region became very frustrated and are so agreeable under certain situation to hand over the most important concept in their life, which is their humanity and lose everything in order to survive. But, in every time and in every place in the world, we can find individuals who can continue to live stronger and are able to hold onto their morals in life. The father and the boy fight to keep what humanity they have left to be the good guys after they have realized that keeping humanity while surviving is important in someone’s life, While it is easier to turn to evil and become a bad
In conclusion, this was an awesome story. The above questions were the catalyst to the real truth that would make the brother to that little girl free at last. His son was determined to break the cycle and remedy this generational condition, although the means by which he used were terrible. But, he would get through to his father. He shed light in the dark place by first beating his father into sobriety, so that he could think clearly. He then helped his father to open up to the discussion concerning the secret he had held on to for so long. Then, he also convinced his father to burn the “Shawl” of his deceased sister. And finally, his father realized what the true story was. A story that would in turn loose the tie that bound them all together with generational sorrows.
Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate on the mind on the present moment. In Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, a man and his son, who remain unnamed throughout the novel, are on a journey heading south after an unnamed catastrophe has struck the world. The conditions they face are unforgiving: rotting corpses, fires, abandoned towns and houses. The man and his son are among the few living creatures remaining on Earth who have not been driven to murder, rape, and cannibalism. Unfortunately, the father’s health worsens as they travel, and by the time they reach the ocean, he passes away. The boy remains by his side for days until the boy meets a kind family who invites him to join them. The boy must say goodbye to his father,
Although this helps the child to have good morality, perhaps better than the father, he does feel a burden of guilt. The father says, “You’re not the one who has to worry about everything…[The child] looked up into his wet and grimy face. Yes I am, he said. I am the one” (259). The boy feels responsible for what is going on in the world; he feels like it is his responsibility to take care of everything, continuing with the religious aspect of the child and almost paralleling him to Jesus. The father sees him as his religious savior, but the boy still believes in some God as he prays for thanks, “Dear people: thank you for all this food and stuff...we hope you’re safe in heaven with God” (146) The boy continues to act as a symbol of hope in a desolate world that has none, though he does not realize. The man tells him when he is dying how important the child is not only to him but to the world, “[The fire] is inside you. It was always there. I can see it” (279). Although the boy wants to die alongside his father, the man encourages him to persist, to survive, and carry the fire. This fire, the one the boy finds within himself, is the symbol of everlasting hope and human resilience. Instead of succumbing to the circumstances and resorting to
Kaufman’s chapter on “Transforming Time” presented many truths most of do not want to think about. Even though we all know the inevitably of death; most of us cling to life. This is not an unusual phenomenon, but what is compelling is the perception of death. Allowing your loved one to die a “good” death verses a “bad” one. The author presented two illustrations of families faced with a loved one who is dying. One such illustration was Mrs. Brown and her husband. Mrs. Brown who had “been married fifty-six years” noted her husband was “the only thing I have.” (page 111) In making this statement she acknowledged that she wanted to hold on to him for as long as she could. The perplexing element arises, when asked by the medical team, what life sustaining measures to take; her response was “I’ll leave it to God’s will.” Unfortunately, for a medical team this is not a definitive response. The uncertainty of what to do still lingers.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy is a tale of survival in a dangerous life after war scenario. In this new world things such as morality are almost nonexistent. There are no longer government agencies, such as the police, to inforce the laws. This lead to people choosing to always make the bad decision over the moral option such as robbing someone for their supplies, or murdering someone so they could use them as a food source. The father fell into the category of doing whatever it takes to survive, where he killed and robbed people. The boy on the other hand is always the one who is urging them to do whatever is the ethical choice. The father and son’s voyage across McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic wasteland, the boy emerges as the pure “good guy” because
It is a novel based in a post-apocalyptic world that revolves around the lives of a father and his son who are just trying to survive. With everything around them destroyed and stripped of life, the two continue their lives hoping for better days to come. They live in a constant state of fear with everyday being spent constantly moving and scavenging for food, all while trying to remain unnoticed. Living in a world where survival is the only goal, the idea of morality has become non-existent. Cannibalism is a major fear because everyone around them is a potential predator. But in this “Barren, silent, godless” (The Road 4) world, where “the days more gray each one then what had gone before” (The Road 1), the man and his son are able to hold their own. Their sense of morality remains intact and they refuse to resort to the lifestyle that the majority of people around them have chosen. They feel as though certain actions are intrinsically wrong and therefore never justifiable. The man refers to himself and his son as the “good guys” and Erik J. Wielenberg explains that they follow a specific moral code. This code includes the rules: Don’t eat people, Don’t steal, Don’t lie, Keep your promises, Help others, and Never give up. (Wielenberg 4). According to these principles, cannibalism is never justifiable. Although the threat of starvation has caused the society to resort to cannibalism, the man and his son promise one another that regardless of the situation, they will refuse to do it. “We wouldn’t ever eat anybody, would we? ..No matter what?” The father assures his son by repeating, “No. No, matter what” (The Road
People always like to refer to themselves as “independent”. Independence may seem like a great ideal in modern society, but in a post-apocalyptic world, a sense of dependence is unavoidable. Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs help us to understand what people depend on. In Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, survival of the boy and the man is due to their dependence on their human nature and ability to support one another.
Survival is the ability to continue to survive, and remain alive after the death of someone else. It is important to have the essential resources required to survive such as food, water, and shelter. Although, there is more to survival than just food, water, and shelter that are required as essential resources. Survival means life, rather than death as demonstrated by Cormac McCarthy in The Road. There are important personality traits that separate those who survive, and those who do not survive. It is important to persevere, have hope, and make sacrifices as shown in the novel. As, the man and the boy in The Road demonstrate what is necessary for survival in their journey along the road in the novel. Through their journey they show perseverance, hope, and sacrifice as personality traits that lead their survival. McCarthy demonstrates that perseverance, hope, and sacrifice are key factors to the father, and his sons survival in The Road.
In the Novel The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, survival becomes the biggest quest to life. The novel is set to be as a scene of isolation and banishment from people and places. The author uses the hidden woods as a set of isolation for the characters, in which creates the suspense of traveling to an unspecified destination near the shore. Cormac McCarthy creates a novel on the depth of an imaginative journey, which leads to a road of intensity and despair. The journey to move forward in an apocalyptic world transforms both of the main characters father and son tremendously as time progress. In particular, the boys’ isolation takes him from hope to torment, making him become fearful and imaginative. The images indicate that McCarthy’s post apocalyptic novel relies on images, particular verbal choices, and truthful evidence to how isolation affected the son emotionally and physically.
Death can be very scary for the elder and young. One never really knows how they will react to the event of death. Even though inevitable, death can be shocking for some or troubling for others. A shocking and a troubling reality of death are depicted in two short stories, Used to Live Here Once by Jean Rhys and A Father’s Story by Andre Dubus. How characters in a story react to death are often different from one another.