Alejandra Marroquin

English 28
Professor Payte
The Road to Monstrosity
In the book The Road by Cormac McCarthy the theme of human monstrosity is explored.
We are presented with a possibility of humanity in a post-apocalyptic world. There are no
animals or vegetation left for, the weather is treacherous and the whole surroundings make it
practically impossible to survive. In these extreme circumstances it is easy to give in to the
monstrosity to survive. Monstrosity happens when someone loses all regard for human life. It
can be someone elses life or even your own. As I read The Road, there was more and more
monstrous acts that could be justified based on the situation the characters find themselves in. An
examination of characterization in McCarthys The Road reveals that there is a level of
monstrosity in all of us; whether it is acceptable or not is dependent on the dyer nature of our
experience
The first monstrous act we are exposed to is the encounter between the father and the boy
is the man that was hit by lightning on pages 49 and 50. The father and son saw the man walking
very slowly in front of them; they decided to follow him to see if he was any threat. The man was
limping, the man finally sat down and they were able to see that there was as burntlooking as
the country. He had been hit by lightning. The father and boy just kept walking per the fathers
instruction. The boy asks if they can please help the man and the father responds that there is
nothing to be done for him. If in our modern world a someone just walked by a man as hurt as
this it would be expected to help and there wouldnt be a second thought about it. He would be
taken to a hospital. But this is another word, unlike any we know. There are minimal resources
and no more hospitals, doctors or nurses. There really isnt anything that the father could have

done that wouldnt have affected them greatly. If they took them on their journey the man would
slow them down and leave them vulnerable to predators. This is also the first scene where we see
that the father and son dont agree. The boy still has regard for others. He wants to help as much
as possible. The son doesnt think about how things will affect them first like his father, he thinks
to help even if it wont result in much; he wants to at least try.
The next monstrosity we see shows how desperation brings us to monstrous acts; a
flashback of the father and his wife moments before she kills herself on pages 55 to 57. In this
scene we see the contrast in the mindset between the father and the mother. The mother has lost
all hope of survival. She has come to terms with the world she lives in and in her head knows
that only horrific things await them if they survive any longer. The man is still holding on hope
that there is a way to survive and stay human and not turn into walking dead in a horror film
as the mother says they are. The mother is trying to justify her suicide to the father, she knows
that there is no way of convincing the father to go along with it and end the boys life as well, but
she has lost interest in them. She is now concentrated on ending her own misery. If the father
would allow it she would also end the boys misery. When reading this, as an audience we have
to try to forget about any previous view on suicide. We must remind ourselves that this is a world
that we have never known. The mother is living in a world where rape and murder are a constant
threat. It is an everyday possibility. This constant fear is like being the living dead. Knowing that
at any time someone can walk into your home and capture you and rape and kill you and your
child can be paralyzing. Ending your life at this point can save you from all that very real pain
that can come to you. In the mothers mindset this is the only choice. This is the only way out.
On the other hand, the fathers character is still holding on hope, you may say for his son, but
you can also look at it as his son is his hope. He has been the one good thing to come out of this

ugly world. He wants to keep fighting so his son can have the opportunity to one day see a
beautiful world.
The first actual act that the father commits is driven by the need to protect his son at all
costs, even at the cost of someone elses life. This encounter is between father and boy encounter
is the man from the diesel truck with the mask, the roadrat, from pages 62 to 66 and then page
71. The roadrat had wondered away from the truck to take a crap, the man interrogated him
with the pistol pointed to his head. He wanted to know how much of a threat his fellow roadrats
would be to him and the boy. The moment that took the father over the edge is when he was
asking the roadrat what they were eating. The roadrat responded anything they could find and he
turned to the boy, as to show that they would eat the boy if given the chance. After a while of
arguing the roadrat grabbed the boy and held a knife to him. Right away the father shot him
straight in the forehead. This killing was justified; the father did it to protect his son. This act
would not be seen as monstrous, it would be seen as self-defense. The next thing we see is
horrific. The man walked back to where their cart was and they found the mans bones and the
skin piled togethera pool of guts. It seems the other roadrats ate their comrades remains. This
is the first time we see signs of cannibalism, the most monstrous act imaginable. Although when
we put ourselves in the roadrats shoes we see why it was done. He was already dead and if they
didnt eat him then someone else may have and they would have to go out and find someone else
to kill and eat... They are thinking of survival. Once the roadrat died he no longer was a human.
he became a meal.
The next two scenes are the ultimate image of what this world is. The maximum horror
that is the world the father and the boy live in. Along the way we have seen clues of them, the
skulls and markings where there was a battle, but now we get to see one in all their horrific glory

on pages 91 and 92. They wore red scarves to distinguish themselves from other armies; they
were all carrying pipes some with chains at the end, all in masks and wearing beards. Behind the
army were wagons being pulled by slaves in harness then came the women and most of them
pregnant, last were the catamites fitted in dogcollars and yoked to each other. These are the
people to fear in this world. They are keeping the women just to reproduce and the catamites,
little boys for sexual pleasure. Because of the atmospheric conditions it seems that civilization
has gone back in time when nomadic groups roam the world fighting each other and making the
conquered slaves and raping their women. The women here are being used as if they are cattle,
breeding them to have more children, maybe to just repopulate, but a more horrific reason would
be for food. They could be making these children to later eat them like veal. The father and son
are hiding because if they are seen they will be captured, this is when we see the father the most
frightened so far.
The next scene shows how by failing to act can also turn you into a monster. . Here the
father and son have gone into what was a grand house, (pages 110-112) it is obviously a trap,
but the fathers desperation blinds him from all the signs. All he is caring about is finding food
for his son. The father breaks into the basement where naked people are being kept; they are
scared and begging for help. The father sees one man lying on a blood-stained mattress with part
of his leg cut off. This man is being kept alive while the captures take a piece of him as needed,
while the others are left to watch this horrific act. Butchers dont even do this to animals. We see
here that all consideration for human life has disappeared. The basement people are simply food
and nothing else. They are begging the father to help him, but instead of at least simply leaving
the door open so they can escape on their own, he shuts the door back up and he and his son run
away. This is the first glimpse we get of the fathers monstrous side. He not only didnt help them

escape, he trapped them all over again in order for him and his son not to be put in harms way.
The humane thing to do would have been at least to give them the chance to save themselves.
The most horrific scene that happens in the text by far is something we dont even really
see. We get very blunt hints at the fact that babies are being eaten. We saw it with the army and
the harem of pregnant women. But that was still a maybe. When we are sure that people are
going to eat a baby is on page 198, in the few pages before we had seen two men and a woman,
the woman being pregnant, they did not come near the father and the son because according to
the father they had seen his pistol. Well then page 198, the father and son come across the
peoples camp site; they had left so fast the fire was still going and in the fire laid an infants
body. It is safe to assume that the woman gave birth to the infant and they were going to eat it.
What we dont know is if the baby was alive or not when it was born. But no matter what the
circumstances were, eating a child is unthinkable. This moment was the most monstrous,
horrifying event to take place.
Last scene I want to explore is with the cart thief on pages 253 through 258. The father
has just discovered that all of their belongings have been stolen from their campsite while his son
slept. The father and son went after the thief to take their belongings back, when they found the
thief the father told him to give them the cart back or her was going to blow your brains out. At
this point the father and son have gone through so much along the road, they have seen so many
horrific things that the father could quite possible be losing his mind. The thief put his knife
down and walked away from the cart, but the father kept his pistol pointed at the man. The father
then asked the thief to undress completely, then the father took all his clothes and shoes and left
the man in the middle of the road naked, he stripped him of his clothes and his dignity, left him
with no hope of survival. The thief was left degraded and no longer a person. As the father does

all this it seems as if he is enjoying himself, he is enjoying watching the man beg. Here the father
has turned it to a monster; he no longer empathizes with others. Leaving the man in that state
was necessary for their survival, but he did it anyway.
We all have the ability to be monsters, but knowing what is wrong and caring for others is
what stops us from becoming monsters. What guided the father through the journey is his son,
the love and devotion to his sons survival kept him from turning completely monstrous.
Throughout the book the father tries constantly not to turn into one of the bad people, but even
he couldnt control himself always. What guided the father through the journey is his son, the
love and devotion to his sons survival kept him from turning completely monstrous. He got
pushed too far and saw too many things to where it broke him and he lost his humanity for a bit.
The only true good guy throughout was the boy. He always wanted to help others and never
wanted anyone hurt, even if they were a threat to their lives. The boys faith in humanity is what
is going to re-create a new society that will be capable of love and compassion. This is a lesson
we all have to remember, we must always care for our neighbor, too keep us from becoming
monsters ourselves.