The Unfamiliar Road

The Road By Cormac McCarthy is a deeply intriguing novel that follows the post-apocalyptic journey of a father and son to the “south” in order to survive the upcoming winter. McCarthy's greatest feat is creating such a invigorating novel without explaining so many usually important aspects of a story. He gives little to no explanation about the apocalyptic event and allows the reader to fill in the gaps as the reader pleases; he only describes the aftermath of the event. McCarthy does not provide names to any characters instead he uses simple pronouns and adjectives to describe most characters. The only distinct character description is seen when son calls his father Papa, this highlights the undying love and compassion that the boy carries for his father. And also shows the deep and personal sacrifice that the father has given his son so that he may survive. The most unusual part of the book is its unfamiliar structure. There are no chapters, no punctuation of dialogue and he uses simple sentence structure and words to convey short simplistic ideas. McCarthy breaks up the book by using paragraphs that end when a complete idea, sequence of events, or dialogue is finished. But when mashed together these short simple sentences and paragraphs transport the reader into the world of the boy and his father and convey a stream of conscienceness from the characters. The relationship between “Papa” and “the boy” and the mother is also a interesting part of the novel. The mother has lost the will to live and regrets bringing her child into the world. She tells “Papa” that “death is my new lover”... “he can give me want I need.” The short but detailed explanation that McCarthy gives for the mothers “disappearance” and the boy's lack of emotional response reveals the deterioration of the human condition. Papa is shocking more upset and taken aback by the mothers disappearance than the boy. The way in which Papa describes the ghastly terraformed world to the boy is also interesting. At times Papa describes the world as it once was and how is should be but these descriptions only further confuse the boy since he was born after the event and has no memories of what the world should be. When scavenging in a grocery store Papa finds a can of Coke and tells the boy to drink it all and to savor it. The boy refuses and forces Papa to try some as well and then immediately comes to the conclusion that he might not have one ever again. Papa further simplifies the boys questions when he describes the world as the “good people” that “carry the fire” and the fact that he tells the boy to find these people once he dies shows how the father might have also simplifed his own world by make a binary distinction between good and bad people. This uncanny form and story develop into a intriguing and fascinating novel that leave the reader with more unanswered questions about life than when he started.(517)