Human Nature in "The Road"

Sanjay Dasari

4/26/2012

Honors AHF 1300-07

Second Paper

Portrayal of Human Nature in The Road

Every day we hear of unspeakable acts of cruelty committed by humans against other humans or animals. While this would normally cause our faith in humanity to dwindle, this is not the case as every day we also hear marvelous stories of kindness towards one another. This has led to people question the true essence of human nature, and try to break it down into a form that can be easily understood. Cormac McCarthy, Pulitzer Prize winning author of national bestseller The Road, is one of those people. His book suggests the idea that humans can be evil and selfish, but are capable of doing great things in the way of kindness towards each other and to other living things by suppressing those instincts. They can only do this if they believe in some form of higher power like a God, and aspire to be good in His eyes. They do this with the hope that if He approves in them then they will be judged well in His view and live happy lives after death. This book tries to prove this assumption about human nature throughout the text in the form of the man, the boy, and Ely, an old man they encounter during their journey.

The man, who is never given a name, believes that his son is the truest essence of God. Because of his innocence and ignorance towards the brutality of the real world, the man treats the boy with a God-like status. “If he is not the word of God, then God never spoke,” said the man, highlighting his belief in the boy’s sacredness (McCarthy, 5). The man is not blind to the actual horrors of their post-apocalyptic world either, and knows full well that should they encounter any roadagents then he and his son would suffer horrible deaths. Unlike his wife, however, who saw death as the only way to leave their God forsaken world, the man takes it upon himself to protect the son on their journey to survive. He does this because the boy reminds him of all that was good in...