| dc.description.abstract | In Cormac McCarthy’s The Road a journey is taken by man and boy across the roads of a post-apocalyptic world. Their goal is to reach the southern coast due to the coming winter. This thesis views the various notions of the journey undertaken by the novel’s heroes. It is viewed through the theoretical framework of the quest as put forth by Joseph Campbell and Christopher Booker. The quest’s elements are set out and explored further extending beyond the theory. The physical and psychological journeys are discussed, and the differences between each character’s personal journeys. This thesis considers the significance of the past and the future, and the concepts civilisation versus cannibalisation, which play important roles in the ordeals man and boy face on their travels. Elements such as the novel’s monsters, “the bad guys,” and the integral phrase “carrying the fire” are explored. What is discovered in this thesis is that all elements of the novel’s journey point to the boy, his future, and the future of humanity. What becomes clear is in order for the world and humanity to have a future, the boy must help towards the regeneration of civilisation, which he cannot do without the assistance of his father. The novel’s underlying quest is to find the “good guys,” which cannot be done until the father has died due to his inability to see other people as good. Once the “good guys” are found the possibility of the renewal of civilisation arises through the reintroduction of the female who embodies fertility. The chance of overcoming the “bad guys,” also becomes viable. The father’s aid, his guidance of the boy and his discovery of the flare pistol in the leviathan, and his death at the end of the novel, are integral to the novel’s plot and the completion of the underlying quest. | |
