What is the inborn nature of man?
There’s a premise throughout the novel that pits hope against acceptance. Even when hope fades, there is an acceptance that short of death, they must go onward.
There’s also McCarthy’s usual good versus evil. Here’s where I am conflicted. If our basic instincts lead us by self-centered survival, lust rather than love, use rather than cooperation, than the people are returning to that instinctive way that had been reasoned and civilized out of us in order to form societies that work.
But what of the boy? He knows what’s going on, has grown up in this world, and yet has a caring for others–something that’s not quite "dead" in the man either. The child cries more easily for others than he does for his own plight. This caused me some concern for his safety as well as set me to wondering why a child of this time and place would be so. The answer, I believe, is that he was not raised among the roving murderers but instead by a loving father and mother who along with the lessons he needed to survive, taught him too the things that they remembered as important. In this child, civilization has not quite hit bottom. That’s likely why he must remain who he is, cautious, wary, knowing, and yet a civilized human being.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology
i couldn’t agree with you more about the road. read it with friends yet none singled out what for me is the central theme: the conflict between hope and acceptance. which serves us better in life? the father accepts the fate of others yet reserves hope for himself and even moreso for his son. the son accepts his own fate while reserving hope for the others. is this allegorically the god of the old testament and the god of the new? i think that’s too simple as religious allegory is fairly flat compared to the dynamics of the human mind as it analyzes and reacts to the surrounding world. amazing how successfully maccarthy illuminates that mustard seed of hope amid colossal despair and misery. central theme in all his novels. as a footnote, i think you are wise to read him in installments. you can read much more quickly than he can write. what are your thoughts on kundera?
I’m not familiar with Kundera so I checked out some of his work and have added his The Unbearable Lightness of Being to the list. Thanks! This author sounds really intrigueing.