The Boy’s Flute

The boy’s internal change throughout the story of The Road is one of the most important aspects of the book. What is terrifying about the setting of this story is that it can drive a sane man bizarre, and the readers can clearly see that happening. The boy’s loss of innocence can be seen through his interactions with his father, his reaction with surroundings and his obsession about death. 

The most direct characterization of the boy is when he is talking to his dad. The boy never lies about his feelings and therefore is the easiest way to learn about the internal change. One of the continuous wonders of the boy is the question of “good guy, bad guy”. The boy keeps asking the man if what they are doing is what “good guys” do and if the people they come across are “good guys”. When the man and the boy first discovered the supplies, he asked his dad if the people that left the supplies here were “good guys”. “They were the good guys? Yes. Like us?” (McCarthy 140). The boy has matured that he knows everything comes at a cost. If they are taking something they did not earn, they are taking it away from someone else. Although the boy knows supplies are extremely important for their survival, he still feels guilty for taking them, which is shown when he constantly asks about if he and his father are “good guys”. He understands that nothing is free in this cool gray world and even feels insecure when good things happen. 

“He understands that nothing is free in this cool gray world and even feels insecure when good things happen. “

Readers learn a lot from the clear conversations that the boy has with his dad, but reading the boy’s mind through his reactions is able to provide an even deeper understanding to the boy’s maturity. When they first discovered the bunker, the boy did not want the father to open it. After the man went down the bunker, “when he bent to see into the boy’s face under the hood of the blanket he very much feared that something was gone that he could not be put right again” (McCarthy 136). For a kid, the world is full of points of curiosity. However, the boy is not curious about the bunker whatsoever. He has been through multiple events where the man opens some door and terrible things happen, he loses his curiosity and faith in good things happening. The thing that could not be put right again is the innocence of the boy. The man looked back and saw a matured man, with no faith in this world. 

The boy’s constant wondering about death is also an important aspect to him losing innocence. Throughout the story, the boy’s perception on death went from: wondering what happens when people die, to: he is going to die with his father, and it is going to be soon. He thinks that they are going to die under their current conditions, no matter what. The boy was certain that the man thought they were going to die. What is worse than losing hope? Knowing that the person one cares about has lost hope. 

The amount of trauma the boy has been through at such a young age is impossible to understand by readers living in the modern society. The boy has lost his innocence and became mature, ready to face the world that is full of ashes.