Book Review - the Road Essay

Throughout the novel The Road, author Cormac McCarthy portrays the true essence of the father and son (or man and boy) relationship. On a journey south taken by a young boy and his father after an unnamed catastrophe has struck the world, McCarthy ways in on the fact that both the father and son share many common traits and characteristics. Looking at this connection from a scientific standpoint, many scientists would refer to the interactions between the father and son in The Road as a form of genetic imprinting. According to this genetic phenomenon, the offspring produced by a couple receives only one of two forms of the DNA sequence of a particular gene. Simply put, the offspring only receives genes from either the mother or father, rather than having both . In this case, the young boy has received the imprinted gene from his father, signifying their relationship and interactions amongst each other in the novel. McCarthy is inadvertently showing how fiction and science come together.

As the catastrophe that strikes earth is destroying mankind and the earth, the man and boy try to find signs of civilization and life on their journey. Most living creatures and plants have not survived the disaster that has destroyed civilization. The world is dark and gloomy, and the conditions the father and son face on their journey to find any signs of 'life' are treacherous and life threatening. Along their journey, they encounter rotted corpses, landscapes devastated by fire, abandoned towns and houses, the grey and mucky waters of the ocean. Being among the few living creatures remaining on earth who have not been driven to murder, rape, and cannibalism, the father and son develop an unforeseen connection.

The scientific phenomenon of genetic imprinting offers a valid argument that can correlate to the relationship between the father and son in The Road. From the young boy's birth into the world, his mother never seemed to ever be the same. Leaving the family at a young age, the boy has no one in his life besides his father. Rather than giving in to the catastrophic events unfolding, the father and son are not willing to accept death. The father's instinct to survive is ingrained in the boy as well, who despite hunger, dehydration, fear and uncertainty, ensues the will and courage for survival. The language and use of dialogue by McCarthy also represents the sense that the boy received the imprinted genes of his father. The dialogue takes place almost entirely between the boy and the father and is short, simple and repetitious. There is little dialogue and little conversation among the father and son. Lacking the maternal genes, which usually involve a greater sense of interaction, dialogue, and compassion, it makes sense that McCarthy wrote the novel in this way. It almost seems that while the father and son have a strong connection, they have trouble showing it emotionally.

A key theory among genetic imprinting is known as kinship or the parent-conflict theory. As described by David Haig,

"Consequently, offspring may require more from parents than parents are prepared to give, creating the possibility of a conflict of long-term interests. [He] called this

'parent-offspring conflict', a term that refers strictly to a conflict of reproductive

interests, emphatically not to conflict in the sense of overt squabbling. The parent

may sacrifice some of the needs of its current offspring for others that it has yet to

produce; the offspring maximises its own chances of survival. Haig developed the

thesis brilliantly in relation to the unborn mammalian foetus. Parent and offspring

'disagree' about how much the offspring should receive, battling it out hormonally."

This is seen in the beginning of the novel, when the man's wife has their baby and becomes depressed and miserable. She cannot live with herself thinking how she brought this baby boy into a world of such darkness and agony. Knowing she cannot provide her son with a life of happiness, and knowing that there is no way for all three of them to survive, she leaves the boy and her husband, leaving the reader to believe she gave up on her life. As described by Haig, this depicts the mother sacrificing her own life for the baby's survival. Not only did she make a sacrifice, but so did the father by staying with the boy and not giving up on his own life the moment his wife decided to leave. The fathers willingness and resiliency is seen within the boy as well, who never really complains or wants