Introduction
The road is a film by Cormac McCarthy that talks about the struggles that a family had to go through in their effort to survive in a cannibalism society. Despite the fiction in the message, there are certain essential messages that have been conveyed in the book that reveal much about the instances that have taken place in America. The essential messages of the book include; the struggle for basic rights, exploitation of the weak, possession of arms by citizens, escapism and the fight for unrealized dreams. These are the messages that have come out clearly as we focus on the journey that was undertaken by the father and his son after the wife committed suicide.
Basic outline of the novel’s plot
The plot of the story outlines the sufferings that people have to go through in the hands of their fellow human beings. The setting is in an environment that is inhabited by a certain group of people. Most of them are nomads, tribalists and cannibals. The climatic condition of the place is unbearable as it is mostly cold with rain and electric storms. Due to the tough weather, the father and the child decides to look for a better place that will be conducive for them (McCarthy, 2008).
They have nothing much to carry apart from a few commodities that could fit in an old supermarket cat. Their journey is full of adventures as they travel with the hope that they will reach their destination safe and sound. Their food is composed of anything that they can find on the way. Food is however not as necessary to them as security which they cherish. The land had no vegetation which was making it also difficult for them to obtain food. However difficult the journey would be, it was necessary for them to leave.
What it wants the Reader to believe and conclude
In writing the novel, the author wants us to believe there are certain environmental conditions that can make life to be so unbearable. Despite the lack of facilities in the region where the family was staying, there were people who were living there. It was due to the lack of food in the land that a group of people had resorted to hunting others for food. This could be the only permanent people that were staying in the region.
To manage to stay in the land, you either had to be a cannibal or staying there as a nomad. The cannibals may have found no other alternative means of surviving rather than make food out of their fellow human beings. They hunted for people and even if they had enough for the day, they would rear them and eat them at a future date. The other people who were endangered were to either resort to suicide or risk being flesh to other people. The father of the boy gave him a gun of which he would choose to kill himself incase he sensed that he would be caught by the cannibals.
How convincing it is to me
The intention of the writing is to make us believe that people can be in such desperate situations that they resort to eating others. Stories about the existence of cannibalism are a myth which has no base. People were basically not to eat others; there are other alternatives that the people could resort to rather than eating other humans. Even though there are small categories of people that are believed to feast on human flesh especially that of babies, they have not adapted it as their obvious diet. Most of such recorded cases do it for spiritual reasons in form of human sacrifice. I also find very ironical, that the cannibals would rare the people to eat them at a future date when there was basically no food in the land.
For the people to be reared so that they form a good diet for the cannibals, then they also had to be fed. If they had the ability to feed such people then there was no point of them eating them as they would otherwise eat the food and be sustained (McCarthy, 2008).
There was also no reason for the people to stay in a land that was unproductive with unbearable climatic conditions. It appears as if the climate of the place is permanent and hence not good for human settlement. There is no clear point of why people decided to settle in such a land when they had the alternatives to look for a better place to stay. The author also mentions about the existence of nomads in such unbearable land which is quite ironical.
Why the author chose the title and its deeper meaning
The title of the story is however significant and reflects on the struggles that man is exposed to in their struggles to survive. The road signifies a journey through which human beings have to travel in their lives. Basically a road has no end and one has to keep moving with the hope that they will finally obtain what they need. Surviving in life has become so difficult and tough that people tear each other up for their own benefit.
The cannibalism that has been mentioned in the book may not necessary mean, the physical eating of people but the activities that man is engaged in which are harmful to fellow human beings. The society is made up of people that are so self-centered that they will do anything to survive even if it is at the expense of those that are close to them. There is also a lot of escapism in society as viewed by the mother of the boy in the novel who chooses to kill her-self rather than face the tough situation. People have resorted to other cultures that are seemingly destructive to their lives simply because they are afraid of facing the real life (McCarthy, 2008).
The most common escape procedure for this matter is drug and substance abuse which cause diverse effects on the health of the users. The gun that the father gave to the boy was for protection purpose, he was either to kill the enemy or the enemy would kill him. This is a clear reflection of the life that we live, once you know your enemy, there are only two options, you kill them or they will kill you.
The principle protagonists and the character of their relationship
The principle protagonists of the novel are the father, who represents leaders that are hungry for change. They have a vision for their people of which they are determined to lead them through until they achieve their vision. The wife of the man is a representative of the people that are tired of the happenings in the society. The unfolding of events makes them loose their vision and resorts to activities that would make them forget everything (McCarthy, 2008).
By committing suicide when she was expecting, reveals the fact that even though people may posses visions and dreams, they gave up on them considering the prevailing circumstances. Finally, the boy is a representative of the people that the older generation is working hard to protect. As their leaders fight for their future, they also empower them so that they become courageous enough to face the challenges that come with life.
Does the Author make us like them?
The author of the novel makes us to have mixed feelings about the characters in the novel. By describing the environment that surrounds them, we are required to sympathize with them. The actions that they take after can be justified as it is not a smooth sailing all together. Those who are strong like the father and the son will move on, yet those that feel they can not manage the way like the wife give up on the fight.
The nature of their environment
The nature of their environment is that of constant struggle. They are living in an area whose environment is unbearable. Apart from the tough weather, they are living with people that have no sense of humanity. They are exploited by the cannibals who rear them for food.
How this environment came about
The environment came about because of natural occurrences and negligence. There was basically no body that could assist the people to obtain their basic facilities. There was a lot of turmoil yet the powers that existed at the time could not do anything to defend the course of the needy. The people were left into the hands of the cannibals who cared less about their well being. They instead looked at them as their next meal which made them to be the hunted.
Problems or struggle that environment confer on the principle characters
The environment basically makes the principle characters to go through a lot of turmoil. The woman decides to commit suicide to escape the environmental condition while the father and son decide to move out of the land. The father is attacked by an illness which he later on succumbed to before fulfilling his greatest desire of taking care of the son.
Whom they encounter
The characters encounter the cannibals that are known to eat people and also rear others so that they work on them at a certain future date.
An account of Dystopia in the novel
Dystopia is a term that is used to describe an authoritarian type of government. This is where the leader basically makes all the decisions decision without seeking the consent of the people. It can hence be said that the leaders in the novel ignored the plight of the people and basically engaged in activities that only satisfied them. Despite the sufferings that the people are going through, they fin d their leaders of little help to them hence their decision to move out in search of a better life.
Of the three different “takes” on the American Way of War- Idealist, dissenter’s and Jingoist- which does this work represent
This work could be a representation of martin Luther king who was in the fore front to fight for the needs of the black race. He was encountered by different situations that also led to his imprisonment. This did not however stop him from advocating for the rights of the blacks, he died before the vision was fully accomplished but had great impacts on the people.
The significance of its conclusion to me
The road may be looked at as a fiction book whose stories are mythical. There are however certain aspects of the day to day life that the author has revealed in his writing which is a clear reflection of the happenings. The tough economic situation that is faced by people has turned the world into a big desert. Things that were easy to obtain some years back have become very difficult. Man has to toil day and night to obtain their basic needs which are never adequate.
Technology has brought about many more demands that man can not leave without. The struggles of life are only for the strong and those that find them unbearable resort to escapism just as the woman killed her-self (McCarthy, 2008). The others like the father who braved his illnesses to ensure that his son is safe persevere through the struggles for a specific course. What make the strong to survive are not the unique abilities that they have but rather their vision.
They have certain goals that they have purposed to achieve and hence fighting for them. Despite the dreams that many have, it is never a guarantee that they will achieve them; it reaches a time when the situations of life catches up on you and you are no more. Many die before fulfilling their dreams while others die because they had no dreams. Life is hence a journey whose end is unpredictable. What remains for man is to utilize every opportunity and set targets for their lives. It is better to die in the process of fulfilling your dream rather than dying because you had no dream at all.
Reference
McCarthy C. (2008). The Road. New York: Vintage International.