ASHES AND HOPE: HEALING THROUGH HUMAN BOND IN CORMAC MCCARTHY'S THE ROAD

ICSSR Sponsored One Day National Seminar on Literature, War and Memory: Narratives of Trauma and Healing in 20th and 21st Century English Literature 100 ASHES AND HOPE: HEALING THROUGH HUMAN BOND IN CORMAC MCCARTHY’S THE ROAD Dr. P. Mohana Assistant Professor, Department of English, Sona College of Arts and Science, Salem [email protected] Ms. J. Sanjana II B.A. English, Sona College of Arts and Science, Salem [email protected] https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17283371 Abstract War leaves an unimaginable destructions, sufferings and loss to the world. It has brought destruction to human life, property, environment and the civilization. The novel, TheRoad written by Corman Mc Carthy gives a haunting vision of the post-apocalyptic world filled with death and constant flow of ashes. In the background, Corman establishes a deep human bond between the father and his son who represents human resilience and power of hope. This paper presents the consequences of the war and also explores how grief has been navigated in the lens of interpersonal attachment, from their survival through the burnt landscape by dealing with marauders and cannibals to their relationship becoming a central pillar of hope. It highlights the concept, humanity is not fully extinguished, and there is hope and potential to rebuild the kindness. Keywords: Destruction, ashes, hope, cannibals, death, war, human bond. The Road manifest the destruction of the environment caused by unspecified nuclear war. The world faces unpredictable loss of natural resources and humanity. The settings and the mood of the novel creates a haunting vision of thedevasted world. It evinces the world filled with ashes where the sky appears dark and gray blocking the sun and creating a “nuclear winter” with no life to exists or survive. There appeared a total barren space abandoned by the people where no social order or government exist to protect the humanity. In contrast the world portrayed with brutality and cannibalism where violence takes upper hand and people turned to savagery. The father protagonist of this novel journey with his young son in search of new world in the south. They wish to seek a warmer climate and courtly humanity as they face psychological desolation in their own land. The son who was born to survive in the sterile earth had not seen plants and animals or the sun and the moon. All he comes across is ashes and grey and corpse all around. The father and the son bear the beacon of hope to survive in the post-apocalyptic world overcoming the brutal gangs who hunt humans for food and survival. “The blackness he woke on those nights was sightless and impenetrable. A blackness to hurt your ears with listening. Often, he had to get up. No sound but the wind in the bare and blackened trees. He rose and stood tottering in that cold autistic dark with his arms outheld for balance while the vestibular calculations in his skull cranked out their reckonings.An old chronicle. To seek out the upright. No fall but preceded by a declination. Eyes closed, arms oaring. Upright to what? Something nameless in the night, lode or matrix” (McCarthy '14) The father andthe sonset out carrying their basic needs like food, blankets and tools travelled through the mountains and desolated roads. On their journey they happen to encounter other survivors and cannibals who prey on the people. The father experiences lung infection badly but protects his son from approaching dangers. On the road the raiders and brutal gangs’ prey on the poor travelersparticularly women to bear children for them.The journey made the father and son resilient and self-healing where the father predicts the dangers ICSSR Sponsored One Day National Seminar on Literature, War and Memory: Narratives of Trauma and Healing in 20th and 21st Century English Literature 101 and becomes cautious of the son’s survival. He protects him from aggressive men who try to seize their belongings whereas the son appears to be innocent and compassionate towards other beings. He feels empathy to the struggles of co-survivors. They encounter thenature’s vengeance on humanity as they represent emotional resonant journey. Both experience physical and emotional pain but hope empowers their struggle. The boy becomesa symbol of hope to the father who is described as “carrying the fire”. Though he is innocent, he is compassionate and potential for renewal. His presence gives hima purpose to live and to shield. When the existing world is devastated, the hope of the father helps them to endure.When they encounter the cannibals around the son questions his father, “We wouldn't ever eat anybody, would we? No. Of course not. Even if we were starving?” (McCarthy 136). This shows that bothare “good guys”. It indicates their moral strength and hopes to keep the flame alive. At one point of their journey the father and son happen to find a hidden underground cell filled with untouched food. As they were starving days together it offered them the hope in the form of warmth and to quench their hunger. Though it is temporary fulfillment that particular moment made them feel safe, ingest and rest.Carrying the fire is a recurring phrase which represents keeping human goodness, morality and love alive.Hope is a moral beacon in a world that has lost its way. “We're going to be okay, aren't we papa? Yes. We are. And nothing bad is going to happen to us. That's right. Because we're carrying the fire. Yes. Because we're carrying the fire.” (McCarthy 87) Though the man and the boy experience a haunting exploration of survival hope explores the human bonding between them. This forms the emotional center of the novel as their bond is the unconditional love and trust they had on each of them.The father seems to be the fire who is fierce and sacrificial. He teaches his son to survive and shields him from danger. Though he was ill he motivates him when they encounter difficulty on the road. The son appears to be innocent and compassionate evenwhen he was exposed to the harshness of the world. He is the moral compass to his father who reminds him to “carry the fire”. Threatened by violence and starving they never gave up the spirit but survived as good people with hope as their weapon. Most of the human encounters appear to be in fear, violence or betrayal as the world is filled with cannibals, thieves and desperate survivors. This shows how rare the human bonding appears in this novel. The novel also explores bonding through loss. The mother adds depth to the novel's exploration of despair, survival, love and choice. The brutal condition of the world forces the mother to end her life as she sees death as rational and merciful option. “No I'm speaking the truth. Sooner or later they will catch us and they will kill us”. (McCarthy 58) The father chooses to live and to safeguard his son whereas the mother chooses death as her choice to escape from theapocalyptic world. “I should have done it a long time ago. when there were three bullets in the gun instead of two.” (McCarthy 57) This quote highlights her hopelessness and fear of unsafe world. The mother’s loss creates a closer and intense bond between the father and the son.The father plays a pivotal role till the end. He guides his son to move on after his absence in thissociety. When the boy pestering his father “Are we going to die now?” (McCarthy 92) He encourages him that they will survive till the end. At the last resort, the boy is fostered by another family suggesting that human bond still exist in the world, even after devastating loss. When the boy's mother choose death, his father leads the boy to a newer world where humanity still exist. ICSSR Sponsored One Day National Seminar on Literature, War and Memory: Narratives of Trauma and Healing in 20th and 21st Century English Literature 102 The novel also moves with stream of consciousness as the father dream of his happy days of pre-war. McCarthy blends fragmented thoughts and internal reflections to reflect the father thoughts, memories and fears. He experiences dreams, flashbacks and visions between the past and present. The author explores the inner life of father who tries to preserve his soul and his son’s in a dying world. The Roadexplores the world with death, destruction and despair where trauma becomes a constant force in the lives of the father and son. The father is traumatized by the loss of his wife and the old world full of colours. The boy was brought up in the world of starvation, death and cruelty. But his moral strength was his father who has gifted the boy hope and fire to sustain and seek a new world of humanity. McCarthy finally suggest that though the world is reduced to ruin, devoid of human love and moral courage, hope and fire can endure its total destruction. Though it does not promise to give salvation but affirms the value of holding hope even in ashes all around. McCarthy’s The Road starts with darkness engulfing the worldbut ends with a note of hope and fire.The Road is not just a story of loss and survival but it’s a spirit of hope to carry the fire. Work Cited McCarthy, Cormac. The Road. Macmillan Publishers Ireland Limited, 2006. Davis, John. “Literary Analysis of The Road by Cormac McCarthy.” Penn State University, 2 Oct. 2018, https://sites.psu.edu/johndavis/2018/10/02/literary-analysis-of-the-road-bycormac-mccarthy/ “The Road: The Themes and Symbolism in Cormac McCarthy’s Masterpiece.” GradeFixer, 2020, (link unavailable). https://gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/the-roadthe-themesand-symbolism-in-cormac-mccarthys-masterpiece/ “The Novel The Road by Cormac McCarthy.” StudyCorgi, https://studycorgi.com/the-novelthe-road-by-cormac-mccarthy-essay-examples/