A non-existent God in McCarthy's The RoadA father and son navigate a slowly dying world of ashes to reach the sea. All along the journey to their destination , they are faced with the horrors of a post-apocalyptic world, through which they must navigate. The other remaining people are animal cannibals capable of committing heinous crimes necessary to survive in the new world. Through this anonymous father-son duo, Cormick McCarthy weaves The Road into a tale where there is no justice for right and chance dictates life. Throughout the novel, McCarthy illustrates his own disbelief in the inherent good of humanity as well as the existence of a God to govern and care for humanity. McCarthy chooses to leave the characters anonymous throughout the story. In doing so, he makes the characters symbols for a larger group of people. This is a tactic that authors have used in the past, 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 anonymous for several reasons, one being that this approach still shows the random good interspersed with evil across the ruined planet, although it is difficult to tell who they are. Additionally, from a religious perspective, the boy and his father represent Jesus and God. In the Bible, Jesus and God are considered pure among sinners. However, from McCarthy's perspective of post-apocalyptic world, no one can survive without committing sin, so the best option is to follow morals and fair actions. Father and son try to do this even in the most horrible and dire situations. Being anonymous makes sense for ...... middle of paper ...... grateful to the people who died and nurtured him rather than to 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 abandoned all hope in the world. The theme of kindness is amplified in the book and is valued even more than love or even religion. Ely declares: “There is no God and we are his prophets” (170). In simpler terms, it says that God has left the Earth, even though he once existed. All that remains are his prophets: those who still choose to do good are not rewarded. Although Cormack McCarthy's novel The Road is a dark and pessimistic view of the inherent evil of humanity, McCarthy leaves the reader with a glimmer of hope. . While the rest of the world burns for humanity's mistakes, there will always be those who still carry the fire. Will you be one of them?