An Existential Approach To Cormac McCarthy’s The Road

This thesis focuses on the theme of hope in McCarthy’s Road. By analyzing Sartre’sExistentialism, it is found that “Hope is in the way acts” corresponds to this theme. In Road,the author portrayed a father and his son struggling for life in a post-apocalyptic world and thenever-abandoning love between the father and the son. Walking on the road at the end of theworld, they never give up hope for living. The novel ends on a note of hope: perhaps thesesmall enclaves of compassionate people can survive and eventually rebuild a tolerable world.The Road, winner of the2007Pulitzer Prize, is Cormac McCarthy’s most accessiblenovel, one which immediately gained a foothold in book clubs and on school reading listsacross America. Describing a father and a son’s journey in post-apocalyptic America, thisnovel is called “cruel poetry”. The Road follows a father and his son journeying for severalmonths across a post-apocalyptic landscape several years after a great cataclysm destroyedcivilization and most life on earth. The father realizes that they cannot survive another winterin their present location, and sets out southeastward across what was once the SoutheasternUnited States. They aim to reach warmer southern climates and the sea in particular. On aroad without end, they are facing unknown living conditions and evils of human nature. Butthey have tender care for each other and hope for life.In the introduction part, the author introduces research background, gives a briefintroduction to Cormac McCarthy and his novel The Road, in order to supply readers abackground so that they can comprehend the paper better. Meanwhile, this chapter alsoincludes literature review, outline and purpose of the research; Chapter One mainly discussesabout existential consciousness in Cormac McCarthy’s novels. One part deals with twoconcepts of hope and freedom in Sartre’s Existentialism and on the other hand, it deals withexistential consciousness in Cormac McCarthy’s novels. Chapter Two analyzes aspects ofFreedom theme. They are consistent with Sartre’s Existentialism. To choose freedom means toact. The true meaning of freedom is to act actively. In Chapter Three, the author combinesSartre’s Existentialism with The Road, aiming to probe the theme of Hope in the novel. Somephilosophy thoughts in Sartre’s Existentialism correspond to the theme of Hope in The Road.To exist means to hope. Hope exists in action. At the end of the world, the father and his sonpursue their freedom for survival.