Good Guys vs Bad Guys-Lia and Josie

“The Road” by Cormac McCarthy explores many themes through the relationship between the man and his son. During their journey, they encounter lots of enemies. This includes not just other humans that they find along the way, but silent enemies too. The man constantly acts in the name of survival, and in contrast, the boy needs constant reassurance that they are still good, due to his extreme compassion. We wanted to show that with our map. Along our road, we drew the moments that made the boy question the morality of their actions. The very first person that they communicate with on the road turns into a violent event. After the man shot another person, the narrator describes the boy as “Lying in his lap with no expression on his face.” (page 68) This part shows how truly shocked the boy was by the man’s actions, he could not even react. Later, they run into another horrific scene, of which the boy states they would never eat people “Because we’re the good guys.” (page 129) He again has the same reaction after they find a large supply of canned food, asking if they can eat it because those who left it are the good guys. Finally, he asks his new companions whether they were good so he would know whether it was okay to go with them or not. The motif of good guys vs bad guys throughout “The Road” made it hard to follow who the enemies were, and who you were supposed to be rooting for. We wanted to represent that confusion in our artwork, showing all the different kinds of people that were encountered along the way.

link to our artwork:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GLMl5l21pelmmvRJ3ZaUEt1dSWl3XluxyAoSgm5S7KI/edit?usp=sharing