The Road Analysis

I really enjoyed the main theme of the story, which was the man’s love for his son. He proved to the reader that he would go through so much just to protect his son from any situation at all costs. The man cared so much for his son that he always tried to find the best places to stay, provide the best food, keeping him warm, and reading to him before he goes to sleep each night. A perfect example of protecting his child would be when the father shot the bandit who dared to touch his son; you could tell that he didn’t even have to think twice about it. In other stories, the characters always take their time to kill the bad guy when they are holding someone they love. The bandit even knew that the man had never killed a human before in his life so he thought that he wouldn’t have the guts to kill him. Of course, the bandit was wrong. This show the limitless bounds which the father would encounter in order to keep his son safe from evil. The mother of the child even decided to sacrifice herself so that there would be lesser mouths for the father to feed.

“You’re not the one who has to worry about everything. The boy said something but he couldn’t understand him. What? he said. He looked up, his wet and grimy face. Yes I am, he said. I am the one” (218). With this quote being said it shows that the young boy is the chosen one since he seems to carry the fire with him at all times and not lose it one bit. The father, as said before, has a huge mission to accomplish, which is to protect the boy and to ensure his survival is carried out with religious passion. Since the boy metaphorically carries the fire, in Greek mythology, Prometheus steals fire and brings it to mankind, for which he is eventually punished for. If he is to have this role, he will have weight of the world on his shoulders, but the son seems to hold the hope and resilience to perhaps make this world worthwhile again and it doesn’t seem like he is going to lose it like his father did. Honestly, the little boy was my favorite character in the book because he had such a huge heart and was able to survive such a dangerous life which most children would have not been able to do so. He was also strong enough to keep carrying the fire with him. Since he carries the fire, he cares for people, for instance, “You have some, Papa” (page 20). This quote is from when the father found a coca cola and decides to give it to his child and have none for him.

But his son wants him to have some with him and that shows that he enjoys sharing what he has with others. Like that well known quote says, “sharing is caring”. There were characters in the story that I didn’t like at all, which were the four bearded men and two women that would capture other humans and get them naked and then throw them in their basement so they could eat them later. I just don’t understand how someone can have no soul or heart to be able to torture their own kind. I know the world is ending, but it doesn’t mean that humans should be eating each other. What happens to them when they eat all of the humans and there is none left? Are they going to go against each other and whoever dies first gets eaten? As I was reading I came across a quote that caught my attention, “You forget what you want to remember and you remember what you want to forget” (page 10). This quote is being completely honest with the person.

Not only does it relate to the book but it can also relate to someone now-a-days. In the book, the man wanted to forget about his wife because every time he thought of her it made things difficult for him. It would bring pain to him, which would make him depressed and would probably lead to whether he should still live or die. I completely understand his situation because having your dead wife appear in your dreams every time you go to sleep doesn’t help your problem. Well, I really enjoyed reading this book. I usually don’t like reading these kinds of stories because they scare me but this book was fine. I was able to handle it. Sincerely,