McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic U.S.A. is devoid of almost everything necessary to sustain life. (I’ll happily keep my warm house, snuggly pets and tasty meals.) While the main characters travel along the road, there is an underlying current of fear created by the author. Everything and everyone are to be feared. The boy provides a beautiful dichotomy by caring for nearly everyone they come across and expressing an empathy it is clear the man no longer has.
I started out having hope that maybe there was something for them to look forward to in arriving at their desired destination. A colony of other sane minded humans, perhaps warmth, or even food. And every time I picked up this book, I had an intense urge to feed my family. As I read on, however, the experience seemed to be one merely of survival.
The story begs the question, how far would you go to survive? And what are you surviving for? Is there more to life than just the basics of shelter, food, and clothing?