It seems like the only line between humane compassion and savage survival is the road that the man and the boy walk. In Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, the man’s love for protecting his son leads them into a situation where the boy’s youthful compassion is pacified by the man after they follow a man who has presumably been struck by lightning.
Human lightning strikes, being one of the most rare occurrences, has already plagued a man in the story (I find it weird that in such a dark time light can still hit a man), but when the young boy saw this man struggling he wanted to help. The young boy’s yearn to help the lightning stuck man was so sincere that “the boy was crying” as he walked past the lightning struck man (pg. 50).
The man who was with the boy truly had one motive, to press on. He attempted to rationalize with the boy about scarcity of resources, but when reason would not soothe the boy, the man simply apologized for something that was not his fault. “Im sorry for what happened to him but we cant fix it (pg. 50).” The boy nods; they continue down the road.
Human lightning strikes, being one of the most rare occurrences, has already plagued a man in the story (I find it weird that in such a dark time light can still hit a man), but when the young boy saw this man struggling he wanted to help. The young boy’s yearn to help the lightning stuck man was so sincere that “the boy was crying” as he walked past the lightning struck man (pg. 50).
The man who was with the boy truly had one motive, to press on. He attempted to rationalize with the boy about scarcity of resources, but when reason would not soothe the boy, the man simply apologized for something that was not his fault. “Im sorry for what happened to him but we cant fix it (pg. 50).” The boy nods; they continue down the road.
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