Monday, February 1, 2016
Can He Do It?
While reading The Road, the scene that I found most interesting was when The Man asks himself "Can you do it? When the time comes? Can you?" (McCarthy 29). This particular moment intrigued me because of the different scenarios The Man could be referring to. However after reading on, I'm beginning to believe that The Man has the intentions of killing himself in an attempt to save his son.
McCarthy has thus far described the the world that The Man and The Boy live in as deserted, dead and dangerous. As the reader I have assumed that an apocalypse of some sort has happened and then followed by an epidemic. In a flashback to the early years of the disaster, The Man describes people walking along the roads covered in masks and clothing. This description along with the quote "In his dream she was sick and he cared for her (McCarthy 32)" that depicts The Man's wife as fatally ill, confirms my belief that a fatal disease wiped out most of the United States' population. Unfortunately, The Man seemed to exhibit an illness of some sort while he and The Boy were walking and "...he stood bent with his hands on his knees, coughing. He raised up and stood with weeping eyes. On the gray snow a fine mist of blood" (McCarthy 30). Assuming that The Man has the sickness that has affected the rest of society, it seems understandable that he would consider committing suicide to save his son.
The question still remains that even if The Man kills himself to prevent The Boy from getting infected, will The Boy be able to survive on his own?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I have mixed feelings regarding the question about the boys survival without his father. In one sense, I do not think the boy will be able to live that long without him. The father does everything for the boy including feeding him, making sure he is safe and getting him to a warmer climate. With no other humans alive to help him I can assume the boy is too young for survival on his own. Also, if they hear a noise the boy never knows what it is. Most of the time he is unaware of the dangers around them including the time they went to a barn and three bodies were hanging from the ceiling. The boy did not think to realize that other people or blood cults could have done this. Luckily, the father did and they left. However, one could argue that he would survive. Although he has not done much so far, he has been watching his father do it for quite some time now. This may be enough for him to survive. The boy also knows to conserve food and drinks, which shows his understanding of how scarce items are.
ReplyDeleteIf The Man can remain alive long enough to teach his son how to survive on his own, I believe so. Obviously, The Boy is not prepared for a world like this at this point in the text, but he is maturing. The text states "I have to watch you all the time, the boy said. I know. If you break little promises you'll break big ones. That's what you said." (McCarthy 34). The boy knows that he should not be spoiled in times where food is sparse. This shows that The Boy learns from his enviornment. Though, he has yet to prove that he will be able to survive, he is maturing.
ReplyDelete