A Non-Existent God in McCarthy's The RoadA father and son navigate a slowly dying world of ash to reach the sea. During the journey to their destination they are confronted with the horrors of a post-apocalyptic world, through which they must navigate. The other remaining people are animalistic cannibals capable of the heinous crimes necessary to survive in the new world. Through this nameless father and son duo, Cormick McCarthy weaves The Road into a story where there is no justice for good and where chance dictates life. Through the novel, McCarthy illustrates his own disbelief in the inherent good of humanity and the existence of a God who governs and cares for humanity. McCarthy chooses to leave characters unnamed throughout the story. In doing so, it makes the characters symbols for a larger group of people. This is a tactic employed in the past by authors such as Ralph Ellison in his novel The Invisible Man. By using this technique, the audience does not see the characters as individuals. McCarthy chooses to leave the characters nameless for a few reasons, one of which is that this approach still shows random good interspersed with evil throughout the ruined planet, even if it's hard to tell who they are. Furthermore, when viewed from a religious perspective, the boy and his father represent Jesus and God. In the Bible, Jesus and God are considered pure among sinners. Put into the perspective of McCarthy's post-apocalyptic world, however, no one is able to survive without committing sin, so the best option is to respect morality and impartial actions. Father and son try to do this even in the most horrible and terrible situations. Being nameless makes sense for... middle of paper... grateful towards the people who died and nurtured him rather than towards a God who hadn't helped him and his father at all. This is a recurring theme throughout the book: man does all good, while God has given up hope in the world. The theme of goodness is amplified in the book and is valued even more than love or even religion. Ely states, “There is no God, and we are his prophets” (170). In simpler terms, it is saying that God has left the Earth, although He once existed. All that remains are his prophets: those who still choose to do good even if they are not rewarded. Although Cormack McCarthy's novel, The Road, offers us a dark and pessimistic view of humanity's inherent evil, McCarthy leaves the reader with a glimmer of hope. . While the rest of the world burns around humanity's mistakes, there will always be those who will still carry the fire. You will be one of them?