Choe 1
Grace Choe
Mr. Quarrella
AP Literature
11 November 2010
Theme of Hope Hope in the face of adversity, hope in spite of the depression and mere survival they must endure, hope in the face of death and fear. One of the major themes that Cormac McCarthy emphasizes in The Road is hope: hope for a better world, hope that there are still good people out there. McCarthy uses the son as a symbol of hope throughout the novel to engage and grasp the attention of his readers. Hope is what progresses the novel, therefore without hope there is nothing. The sons character is a symbol of hope to the father throughout the novel. In the father’s perspective the son is almost described as holy, “if he is not the word of god. god never
The mother is another character presenting hope that has been lost. The mother commits suicide as this is what she sees as the brightest option. The mother says “as for me my only hope is for eternal nothingness and I hope it with all my heart.” This shows how the mother has lost all hope of a future and nothingness is better than life on borrowed time. The last paragraph in the road is full of hope for the boy and the earth’s future. It uses adjectives full of color, “amber” and “white”, which are almost never throughout the rest of the novel. The drastic change in colors gives the impression of energy and life and a brighter scene, a brighter future for the boy and the earth. It also uses words full of life like “trout”, “muscular,” and “moss” which give the impression of a bright world full of life giving hope to the reader of hope for the future of earth and the boy. Cormac McCarthy presents the theme of hope in many different ways. He shows the lost hope of people in end of the world situations, the mother and the cannibals, but also shows hope for the future, carrying the flame and the last paragraph.