Yes, the main characters do find, and have meaning to their life, because instead of just giving up and dying they continue to fight and survive. Several times in the book they wanted to give up and die, but they both pushed and motivated each other to continue living. A quote from the book that supports this, “I wish I was with my mom…you mean you wish that you were dead. Yes. You musnt say that…Don’t say it. It’s a bad thing to say” (McCarthy 55). The son has no meaning to his life he is also scared of living in this world, but his dad changes his mind, telling him he needs to live, he has a purpose. They also continued to live for each other; there were no other good people around, so they were all that they had. They relied on each other for human interaction, and to not feel lonely. They also live to ‘carry the fire’, which carrying the fire is their way of saying carrying on the act of humanity. They represent the non-violent part of the world, they do not eat people, they do not kill unless they absolutely have to or to protect themselves. “I want to be with you…You cant. You have to carry the fire. I don’t know how to. Yes you do” (McCarthy 278). The boys new meaning in his life is carry on the fire and keep some good within the world, and stay a ‘good guy’.
"Because we're the good guys. Yes. And we're carrying the fire. And we're carrying the fire. Yes. Okay"(129). The main characters have hope and the belief that they are special and meant to survive. Carrying the fire means carrying the hope, carrying humanity's last chance of survival, the father believes that they were chosen by god or some other force, or even by pure chance and they are some of the few who are meant to herald the human race into the next era. This is a classical plot line even in books or movies where the author or director does not announce it, it is always there. There is always that one line or action that shows this. In the road it was the fire, the main characters are carrying on the fire, which could represent many things, such as either hope or humanity, for a future generation. So yes, the main characters find survival as their meaning to life in order to continue to carry the fire.
After reviewing over the 2 comments, I like the way they integrated evidence to show how the main characters do carry the fire. I think this was a good example of how the boy and the father were each relying on one another to fight on another day. "I always believe you. I don’t think so. Yes I do. I have to"(McCarthy 185). The two characters were used in this story to help develop each other. Their dialogue, like the example above, was often very simple but showed how the wanted to believe and survive. They took on the challenge, as mentioned in the above comments and used each other to stay strong. "What the boy had seen was a charred human infant headless and gutted and blackening on the spit"(McCarthy 198). This imagery was inserted towards the end and was used to show how strong the boy had developed. He saw a gruesome image and was able to push on, knowing that he had meaning in his life and would not want to end up like the infant mentioned. Others could argue that the characters were just trekking along for no reason and dealing with conflicts that will lead them to nothing. "What's the bravest thing you ever did? He spat into the road a bloody phlegm. Getting up this morning, he said”(McCarthy 272). In the end, I agree with all the comments above and the character, like the quote says, getting up to fight and that’s what they needed to do to “carry the fire” and the find the meaning and hope to live their life.
Yes, the main characters do find, and have meaning to their life, because instead of just giving up and dying they continue to fight and survive. Several times in the book they wanted to give up and die, but they both pushed and motivated each other to continue living. A quote from the book that supports this, “I wish I was with my mom…you mean you wish that you were dead. Yes. You musnt say that…Don’t say it. It’s a bad thing to say” (McCarthy 55). The son has no meaning to his life he is also scared of living in this world, but his dad changes his mind, telling him he needs to live, he has a purpose. They also continued to live for each other; there were no other good people around, so they were all that they had. They relied on each other for human interaction, and to not feel lonely. They also live to ‘carry the fire’, which carrying the fire is their way of saying carrying on the act of humanity. They represent the non-violent part of the world, they do not eat people, they do not kill unless they absolutely have to or to protect themselves. “I want to be with you…You cant. You have to carry the fire. I don’t know how to. Yes you do” (McCarthy 278). The boys new meaning in his life is carry on the fire and keep some good within the world, and stay a ‘good guy’.
ReplyDelete"Because we're the good guys.
ReplyDeleteYes.
And we're carrying the fire.
And we're carrying the fire. Yes.
Okay"(129).
The main characters have hope and the belief that they are special and meant to survive. Carrying the fire means carrying the hope, carrying humanity's last chance of survival, the father believes that they were chosen by god or some other force, or even by pure chance and they are some of the few who are meant to herald the human race into the next era. This is a classical plot line even in books or movies where the author or director does not announce it, it is always there. There is always that one line or action that shows this. In the road it was the fire, the main characters are carrying on the fire, which could represent many things, such as either hope or humanity, for a future generation. So yes, the main characters find survival as their meaning to life in order to continue to carry the fire.
After reviewing over the 2 comments, I like the way they integrated evidence to show how the main characters do carry the fire. I think this was a good example of how the boy and the father were each relying on one another to fight on another day. "I always believe you. I don’t think so. Yes I do. I have to"(McCarthy 185). The two characters were used in this story to help develop each other. Their dialogue, like the example above, was often very simple but showed how the wanted to believe and survive. They took on the challenge, as mentioned in the above comments and used each other to stay strong. "What the boy had seen was a charred human infant headless and gutted and blackening on the spit"(McCarthy 198). This imagery was inserted towards the end and was used to show how strong the boy had developed. He saw a gruesome image and was able to push on, knowing that he had meaning in his life and would not want to end up like the infant mentioned. Others could argue that the characters were just trekking along for no reason and dealing with conflicts that will lead them to nothing. "What's the bravest thing you ever did? He spat into the road a bloody phlegm. Getting up this morning, he said”(McCarthy 272). In the end, I agree with all the comments above and the character, like the quote says, getting up to fight and that’s what they needed to do to “carry the fire” and the find the meaning and hope to live their life.
ReplyDelete