In the darkly realistic “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy, the main character, the father, travels with his son in a post-apocalyptic world to the coast in hopes that they will find a way to survive. However, due to the father’s failing health, he eventually dies at the end of the journey to the coast. His death plays a major role in creating the theme of death being ultimately inevitable, even with hope. When the pair travels down the road scavenging for any sort of items they could use and feels like time is lost, the son continually asks his father if they are going to die. He often asks after something has occurred or gone wrong, like when their bags were scavenged by other humans. The son realizes that there is little to no food left and asks, but his father denies it and continues walking on. Even though there isn’t much left for survival and the world is bleak and dreary, the pair continues on and trying to avoid death for as long as possible. As they travel to the coast, the father often hallucinates and dreams of his wife, who had committed suicide to avoid living in such a desolate world. Because of her actions, the father has to continue striving and living on for the sake of his son, which culminates into a desire to protect his son from everything even if it means killing others. His thoughts and motivations adds depth into his character as someone motivated to strive and move on against death, all for the sake of his son. They travel down a seemingly straight road to the coast, though they sometimes deviate from the path in order to avoid other humans. The son often disagrees with the father on matters like that, but the father will always reply that they are the good guys and that the others are bad. When the son realizes they’re walking the same path as other people who they left behind to die, the father quietly accepts his realization. In this sense, the road is a symbol of the path of life, continuing on until the very end of their journey where everything ends. When the father dies at the end of the road, it is a major symbol reoccurring throughout the story as a path of life and how it ultimately has to come to an end.
