The Maturity Of The Boy Through Time

The Road, a novel by Cormac McCarthy, is about a father and his son trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. The father tries to every way to keep his son safe and protect his sanity. Nonetheless, after seeing the terrible truth because of their trials on the road looking for food, the boy starts to lose his innocence.

First of all, the boy realizes what the cannibals do to their slaves. After running from the house where naked human beings are being kept like livestocks, he casually acknowledges what the “bad guys” are doing by asking his father: “They are going to kill those people, aren’t they? / Yes. / … / They are going to eat them, aren’t they? / Yes” (McCarthy 127). However, he also matures by making his dad promise that they will never “eat anybody”: “No matter what./ No. No matter what” (McCarthy 128). The boy’s realization signifies why they are different from other refugees on the road: they keep their moral even though they are desperate.

On the other hand, the boy’s loss of innocence also leads him to be more afraid whenever they reach a new destination. When the father is about to break the bunker, the boy cries and begs him not to go, which makes his father “very much fear[s] that something [is] gone that could not be put right again” (McCarthy 136). Though the boy appears to be less brave, he does it out of concern for his father. The boy cries because he loves his father and doesn’t want him to be harmed and that’s what important.

To conclude, the boy loses his innocence but he realizes his morality to be the most essential and grows more conscious of their situation, thus growing more love for his father.