Entry 3: Carrying the Fire

In a book chock full of rotting and decrepit corpses, one person is carrying the fire.

No, it is not the man, but rather the boy!

As opposed to the man, whose soul has been ravaged by the world around him, the boy is still young, and remains the moral center of the novel.  He, unlike his father, is always thinking about how their actions will affect others, while the man strictly thinks about survival.  Even when on the brink of death, starving in the cruel cold world, when the two of them find a shelter of food he still questions whether they should eat it or not.  The man can be cold-hearted and unforgiving, while the boy is empathetic towards others, even those who try to wrong him (mild nudity).  In this scene especially, the father's emotional disconnect from other humans and his loss of humanity are very apparent.  He takes everything away from a many who is just like him: cold, alone, dying.  Inversely, the boy is appalled.  His selflessness is a pertinent point, especially because of The Road's choice to mostly follow two main characters.

The boy has also proven himself to be more keen in certain situations, such as at the cannibal house. It was a haunting scene in the movie (scene is disturbing viewer discretion advised), and its influence is just as strong in the book.  He warns his father over and over not to enter the house, yet he enters anyway because he feels they need to find food.  Well sorry chief, that one didn't work out so well. Better luck next time.

I continue to enjoy this book tremendously as I pass the half-way point of the novel.  While I do already know the major plot points, there are enough differences to satisfy me.  But that's a topic for an entirely separate entry.