John Liebentritt Ms.

Martin Composition 11 April 2014 Survival In The Road, we see the story of a man who has been left virtually nothing but his own young boy. The two of them are stuck in a wasteland of a post-apocalypse society where there are no rules, and everyone is basically on their own for their own means of survival. The mans wife left him and the boy to fend for themselves and survive by carrying the fire, meaning that they are the good guys in a world where the majority has resorted to evil. Throughout the entire story, survival is the keen characteristic represented, whether it is through the eyes of the man and the boy, or those who resort to committing evil in order to better their own chances of survival. The reason as to why survival is so important is because it is the basic means as to which one stays alive, but more importantly in this story, survival has been depicted through people of different sets or morals, whether they are good or bad, we see what it takes for some people in order for them to stay alive. Throughout the story, one of the reoccurring themes is that in order to survive the right way, one must apply the right set of morals to the situation, and also have a combined faith in God, as well as a fellow companion if you are lucky enough to have one. The man chooses to have his own set of beliefs in order to ensure the survival of both himself and his son. He tends to believe that people are generally bad, and that nobody else can

be trusted in their current society or culture. The boy on the other hand, seems to be more trusting of other strangers, which most likely stems from his undeveloped personality that comes with age and experience. We even see the mans distrust with other people when he comes upon chances to help both him and the boy by possibly retrieving some necessities.He climbed the stairs and walked through the bedrooms. Everything covered with ash. He stripped back the beds and came away with two good woolen blankets and went back downstairs. In the pantry were three jars of home-canned tomatoes. He blew the dust from the lids and studied them. Someone before him had not trusted them and in the end neither did he and walked out with the blankets over his shoulder and they set off along the road again. (10-11) The man does not seem to trust anybody but himself and the boy. Because the culture has turned to where everybody is out for themselves, he has resorted to believing that him and the boy are the only good in the world, and that they need to avoid others at all costs, even if that means that he has to leave precious food behind since he doesnt trust those who were there before him. We see how the culture has resorted to evil when the man and the boy come across a cellar in what looks to be an abandoned house. When they go down into the cellar to see if they can rummage though it and take anything useful, they come across human beings who have been held captive down there in order to be dismantled and eaten. He started down the rough wooden steps. He ducked his head and then flicked the lighter and swung the flame over the darkness like an offering. Coldness and damp. An ungodly stench. The boy clutched at his coat. He could see part of the stone wall. Clay floor. An old mattress darkly stained. Huddled against the back wall were naked people, male and female, all trying to hide, shielding their faces with their hands. On the mattress lay a man with his legs gone to the hip and the stumps of them blackened and burnt. The smell was hideous. (168) From this scene, we see that these people who were living in this

house resorted to evil standards and have bad morals when they chose to actually eat humans. Sadly, this seems to be the majority of the people in this society: those who have resorted to some kind of evil in order to better themselves in their own chances of survival. Another important aspect of survival is having faith. Faith is so important because it is exactly what drives a person to stay alive, or to keep his or her own companion alive as well. Without it, there is no point in trying to ensure your life continues because the inner drive doesnt exist, thus leading those without their own faith to suicide a great proportion of the time. We see this more so in the movie than in the book with the mans wife leaving the family because she no longer possesses that inner driving force for her to continue to believe in the cause of staying alive. For a lot of people in our society, it is rather rare to hear of a mother to actually leave her child behind just as she did in the movie. Granted, she left the boy with her husband, but she still abandoned her family, which only ensured the fact that she wouldnt survive, as given off in the movie. We can learn from the mother why it is so important to keep your faith strong, whether it is with our family, another companion, or with God, that faith will keep you going, and more importantly, it will guide your morals into doing the right thing and to not give up hope. Survival can be achieved using many differing methods, but as we see in both the story and the movie, those who have good morals are constantly fighting an uphill battle against those who hold bad morals, which is the greater population in the society. The man and the boy themselves believe that they are the good guys and that they are in fact, carrying the fire for the world as a whole, meaning that they seem to be one of the last people to actually have a holy set of morals and code to live by. We see that the man generally believes that people are bad, and his beliefs are surely justified. The world has come to a complete meltdown to where there are no

longer any rules or laws, therefore creating a culture that only looks out for themselves, while in turn, heavily hurting the other guy. Many people have resorted to a nature that we do not deem as being normal, such as when the people were being held captive in the cellar in order to provide food for others who deemed themselves to be of a higher class or position than those held prisoner. This shows the heavy deterioration of the culture and unfortunately, this seems to be the majority. Lastly, faith is keen to ensure survival because without it, we do not have that inner sense to stay alive and keep fighting; it leads us to give up too early without faith.