While reading this section of The Road, I came to realize that a huge part of the adversity faced by the Man and the Boy lies in the fact that they know that any good things that may happen to them will not last. So essentially, they must face the fact that the rest of their lives will be, for the most part, struggle and horror. This is shown in a number of situations. For example, when they find the bunker (which happens to be relatively well-stocked with food, a scarce commodity in this post-apocalyptic world), they eventually leave it, knowing that staying in one place would make them sitting ducks, regardless of the amount of protection and security the bunker seemed to be able to provide. They've had to accept the bleakness of their lives and of the world they live in, and this has clear psychological consequences for both of them. Their situation is kind of horrifying to me in that an underlying concept-- that the Man and the mother brought the Boy into such a trrrible world, and must deal with the guilt/stress/other consequences of this (if that makes sense?)-- is not too far from what I think some people do/will experience. Of course, this similarity in real life doesn't reach quite the degree that it does for the Man, but it's hard for me to avoid that connection while I read.
I really like your insight into the thought process of the mother and father bringing a child into such a horrible world. Was there any background into their past that would suggest why they chose to? Perhaps it wasn't a choice at all, but an accident? In this post-apocalyptic world, as you describe it, I wouldn't think there would be easy access to any form of birth control.
ReplyDeleteI can see where you're coming from Marian. It's like, why did the boy have to be brought into such a horrific world. It wasn't his choice to live this way, but now he has to and the father must fight with that so called guilt everyday of their lives. But I also think that without the boy, the man would have never made it this far and so in a way it was a good thing that the boy was there because they can have each other for support, because it's clear that the wife was completely useless. Plus, I'm sure the boy was born years before the apocalypse occurred because he appears to be in his early teen years. I just hope they find safety in the end.
ReplyDeleteThats a great point that Marian makes that I really thought about. We never find out if the boy was born at the beginning of the post-apocalyptic or a while after. But regardless, the boy was a symbol that at one time the Man and the Wife love each other at one point. Them bring him in to the world in this situation can also be shadow in real life situations, and as we can see it has lasting consequences on everyone involved.
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