The Road Encounters - Medina & Nae

In “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy, we see the man and the boy’s experience in their run-ins with others. Often, these encounters are scary and come down to ‘kill or be killed’. In our map, we tracked how the man and the boy’s encounters with others has demonstrated how people have abandoned the idea of ‘morality’ to survive.

This idea connects to the boy and the man’s self-label of being “the good guys” by how they differ from others. However, in some encounters we see the man’s lack of morality because of his lack of empathy, unlike the boy. Through all the characters we meet in this book, it becomes apparent that the only character who hasn’t abandoned morality is the boy. Multiple times throughout the book, the boy demonstrates his empathy for others. First, with the man who was hit by lightning that he wanted to help so desperately, then again when he saw another little boy and ‘needed’ to find and help him. This is especially shown in their encounter with “Eli”, the old man, when he insisted on sharing the little amount of food they had with him (meant to include in the picture). Throughout the “The Road” the boy shows empathy and care for others in a world that has given up on humanity.

(More description in the picture)