Cormac McCarthy’s The Road is an exhilarating novel about the journey of a young boy and his father in a desolate land. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind and the evil bandits that are a hindrance to their progress. The bond of the father and the son is very prominent, as well as the fear of being attacked by cannibals that lurk within the two unfortunate souls’ minds. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes on their back, a cart of scavenged food and supplies, --and each other. However, survival is the key throughout the boy and father’s extensive journey because it is the main objective the characters strive for. Survival is the theme of The Road. The father and son’s daily activities revolve around surviving against the murderers that are scattered throughout the barren land. “He dove and grabbed the boy and rolled and came up holding him against his chest with the knife at his throat,” (pg.56). This shows that the father and son have to worry more about just living, since the father’s health is already decaying. It also shows that the marauder would not hesitate to kill him, or turn him loose to other bands of cannibals. “Behind them came wagons drawn by slaves in harness and piled with goods of war and after that the women, perhaps a dozen in number, some of them pregnant, and lastly a supplementary consort of catamites illclothed against the cold and fitted in dogcollars and yoked each to each,” (pg.76). The man and his son had to stay alive or become prey to the others who plan on eating them. It also shows that father, or son, might have to shoot at anybody else, no matter if they were human or cannibal, to keep them alive at all costs. Trust was not valued. The son is dependent on the father to make it to the coast alive. “The man had already dropped to the ground and he swung with him and leveled the pistol and fired for a two-handed position balanced...