Perspective

McCarthy is able to sum up what being a human means. About a week ago I was asked, in my Catholic Confirmation class, what being a person meant. The question seems broad subjective to each persons opinion. After reading another section of The Road I feel as if I have been shown a good definition. The boy is constantly asking the father whether or no they are the “good guys” this question is similar to the one I received in class. Every person will have a different impression of what being good means. In movies, being good usually means being beautiful, strong, and full of moral accuracy. The father is clear when answering:

“Because we’re the good guys.

Yes.

And we’re carrying the fire. Yes.

Okay.” (McCarthy, 1588)

The image depicted by McCarthy of the good guys is very different from the ones you would normally find.

Most books represent the author’s point of view about a certain topic. In this case we can see McCarthy’s impression of the world when he mentions: “By day the dead impaled on spikes along the road. What had they done? He thought that in the history of the world it might even be that there was more punishment than crime but he took small comfort from it.” (McCarthy, 383) The gray and sad world that the reader travels through might be an exaggeration of human greed. Every man has resorted to cannibalism and the few that haven’t appear to be the good guys. Everything else does not matter. It proves that perspective determines your way of life.