In The Road by Cormac McCarthy the son acts more like a little boy than an adult. SInce he and his father have been on the road for so long, we start to see the son start to mature and act less child-like. The little boy loses his innocence over time and it signifies that he is becoming more mature.
One example of the boy becoming more mature is when the find the cellar full of food. The son wants to give thanks to the people whose shelter it was. The father notices the boy is acting weird so he asks what is wrong. The boy replies with, “Do you think we should thank the people… The people who gave us all this” (McCarthy 145). The boy is showing how he is mature enough to acknowledge the fact that it is someone else’s food, and they should give thanks for that. If he acted like a young child he would have taken the food and not have a second thought about it. Another example of the boy growing up is when he throws his flute away.
The son seems to be growing up, and that means getting rid of childish things. One example of this comes when the father asks the son about his flute. He asks, “What happened to your flute? I threw it away. You threw it away? Yes. Okay. Okay” (McCarthy 159). The boy throws away the flute to show he is not an innocent little kid anymore. He has no need for a silly little flute. He is growing up and understands his circumstances. The boy is mature enough to realize that survival is more important than a toy.
In conclusion, all the time spent on the road forces the boy to go from an innocent little boy to a more mature young adult. He shows his maturity by ditching the flute and wanting to give thanks to the people who left the food and water in the shelter that he and his dad stumbled upon.