No one is safe. No one can survive without making sacrifices. This frozen world is the aftermath of a nuclear war and is envisioned by Cormac McCarthy’s book, The Road. In this book, a father and son walk on a journey south to find a place warmer than what they have experienced. The relationship between the father and the boy is put through many challenges on their adventure down
From the opening pages, McCarthy depicts the love and protection the father has for his son as they continue their impossible journey. McCarthy successfully depicts this relationship’s growth, while writing the same high standards for despair that he is most known for. Through the “dark and the cold of the night he’d reach out to touch the child sleeping beside him” (3). In just the first sentence, McCarthy manages to outline the entire story. In a world that God has abandoned, where the sun no longer shines through the ashes, the hope that the father and his son will survive ultimately gives the reader something to look forward to.
The Road, by Cormac MacCarthy expresses a tale of a journey of a father and his son after a global catastrophe set in the future. The father and his son travel along a godless patch of highway occupied by marauders, cannibals and survivors of the post-apocalyptic world and they believe that they could possibly be the last “good guys” left. The son and his papa follow the road to hopefully find a better life in the south and also to “carry the fire”. The fire, as they call it, is a symbol of that they are somewhat carrying the hope, faith and humanity of what is left in mankind. This dark adventure plays upon the public’s sense of fear, pandemics and weapons of mass destruction.
He knew, as did Johnny that they were the ones who accidentally set the church in flames, so saving the children’s lives no matter the outcome of his own was the least he could do. “I'll get them, don't worry!” I started at a dead run for the church and the man caught my arm.”(p.91). Even not feeling well, Ponyboy still fought in the rumble. The “Greasers” know that they must be loyal to each other because each other is all they have. Ponyboy knew that his friends needed him so he fought.
The boy has an endless will to do the right thing, which seems to be what the father has been teaching the boy on their long journey. The boy asks several times if they are still carrying the fire and if others might do the same, like in the end where the father convinces the boy to go on without him, like in the end where the father convinces the boy to go on without him, because he is about to die: “I want to be with you. You cant. Please. You cant.
In our lives, we can have a lot of joyful and beautiful moments, but we must not forget that sooner or later, challenges appear on our way. Louise Erdrich's "The Red Convertible" gives an example of life's most difficult challenge: Lyman must accept that his brother, Henry, has lost the will to live after fighting in war. The purpose of this essay is to use Erdrich’s story to show how much war can change someone’s life for worse. When young men go off to war, they painfully become aware of their own mortality. Many 18-year-old boys are drafted off to fight for their country-when most had never picked up a gun.
Odysseus has to outwit, outlast and outplay poseidon’s obstacles and go through hell and back in order to be reunited with the world he has built with his bare hands thus depicting incredible heroism throughout his journey. On Odysseus’s journey he showed incredible strength in order for him to return home to ithaca. As Eurylochus said “you are a hard man, Odysseus. Your force is greater, your limbs never wear out. You must be made all of iron, when you will not let your companions, worn with hard work and wanting sleep, set foot on this land, where if we did, on the seagirt island we could once more make ready a greedy dinner; but you force us to blunder along just as we are through the running night, driven from the island over the misty face of the water”.
Gruener 1 Hailey Gruener October Sky Homer and his father never really saw eye to eye. Homer had a great determination to do big things and his father wanted him to be a man and just work in the mine like every other man. The character traits and strengths a person needs to accomplish their goals is perseverance. Another trait you would need to accomplish a goal is self-esteem. Courage is also an additional strength you need.
Although brutalized by his experiences, he retains an emotional warmth and gentleness towards the child that is felt throughout the novel. Desperate circumstances transforms the man from father to protector. A motif that resonates throughout the book is the father instilling the importance of the idea and belief of “carrying the fire” (McCarthy278). It is this powerful message that is passed down to the boy that each time mentioned in the book it seems to build a momentum until in the end when this beautiful message is magnified and celebrated by the reader as the man is passing away. “Carrying the fire” is a symbol that can take on several meanings.
Fire represents hope for both of them. The boys make it a necessity to keep the fire going. Chuck takes all day trying to make a fire and he celebrates when he finally gets one going and he makes it really big. The Lord of the Flies and Cast Away are very similar. The characters in both go crazy being trapped on the island.