Nothing Without The Other

In The Road by Cormac McCarthy, he plays off of themes of death, corruption, and faith. His use of imagery between the bodies and land creat a world that is dark and hopeless, yet he still preserves his faith; though now it is in the boy. There is no society or morals in this new world; they survive and govern themselves, make themselves the rulers and ‘Gods’ of the ruins left behind.

In the last section, readers see a dramatic row th in maturity in the boy while they travel the road. The man continues to try and preserve the boys ignorance, but after the gore witnessed, realizes it’s impossible to shield him from the horrid realities. They come across an old man, whom the boy feeds. He is compared to Buddha, who was a wise, all knowing monk. The old man shares his beliefs, and lack thereof, to the man. Before they sleep he states: “When we’re all all gone at last then there’ll be nobody here but death and his days will be numbered too. He’ll be out in the road there with nothing to do and nobody to do it to”(173). This quote corroborates with a poem by John Donne called “Death, be not Proud”. In it he writes: “Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings and desperate men… And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.” Both quotes show that death is pointless without mankind; he is controlled by the human race. He isn’t eternal and all powerful but weak and maniplable. Death looms over humans, but once he claims you, he is powerless. He has no purpose when there is no life. His “days being numbered” and “Death, thou shalt die” don’t mean a physical death but a mental. His ‘life’ has no meaning, there is nothing left to take in an empty world; so he will be alone and useless on a dying planet.

Both texts show deaths role in life. Readers question what one is without the other because what’s the point? Without death, living would get mundane and lose its risk. Without life there would be no death, which means there would be nothing left.