Throughout the entire novel, The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, the father and son are on a physical journey, which aids in their mental integration of the post-apocalyptic society they are faced with. The father and son take a physical journey across the states in search of a better life, but the constant reinforcement that there is not many better options enforces the fact that humanity and the world they once knew has transformed forever. As the ambiguous characters traverse through the roads of the states they slowly realize that humanity is transforming, and their journey helps to portray the comparisons of the life they were leaving behind to the new issues they will have to endure, along with their longing for the old life they had lurking …show more content…
As they progressed on their journey, the father continually reinforced the fact that they were meant to be eternally good people despite the vast amount of horrible things they would see on their journey. The goal of their journey was not only to try to see what was left of the world that they once knew, but also to try and avoid the cannibals. They were carrying with them a gun that contained two bullets, and after using one, the father declared that the last bullet was to be used on the son if it was ever needed to escape the negativity and preserve his predetermined goodness. As they are trying to evade the cannibals, they keep stumbling upon groups of people that are clearly being preserved to be eaten, however, they are forced to keep propelling forward in their journey to spare themselves from danger. The darkness moment of their physical journey scares them excessively. They find a campfire with a newborn baby on a skewer. This sight puts the son into shock in makes him mute for days. Despite the horror that they witnessed on their journey they had no choice but to push forward to save themselves and save the possibility of the memories that they could preserve of the good things in