Analysis Of Cormac Mccarthy's The Road

In Cormac McCarthy’s book The Road, the two main characters struggle to keep moving forward. Their motivation to push onward is found in the bottom levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs; which are physiological, safety, and emotional. Each of the levels are equally important in order for the man to reach self-actualization. In order to reach the top level, however, the man must fulfill the bottom levels first.
The physiological level, which is at the bottom of the pyramid, must be carried out first in order to reach the top level of self-actualization. Some of the needs in this level are food, water, air, shelter, and sleep. These certain needs are what the man and the boy are searching for throughout the entire book. In the bottom level of
As the two travel along, they start to run out of food. They find bits and pieces to eat as they go, but not enough to make last a long time. Until, however, they find an abundance of food in an abandoned house (McCarthy 138).
As they look for food, they meet or see other humans. Some of these humans are not the same as the man and the boy. They are, however, cannibals. The need for food drove them to an unspeakable act of cannibalism. The other person they see is a normal human trying to survive. The very altruistic boy wants to help the others and share his own food. Unfortunately, the man knows that the more people they have in their group, the less amount of food they will have and the possibility of a shorten life span (Bo 32).
The need of water is not any easier to implement. Fresh, sanitary water is not something that is not found very often in Cormac McCarthy’s book. The man and the boy have to drink water from low, almost empty, lakes. Which has to be filtered before consuming. Later on in their journey, they find water to drink from a trap door (McCarthy 122). Although these circumstances may not be ideal for any human, the two have no other choice if they want to