The Road, Part 2

Would I trust the stranger at the end of the book?

Surprisingly, The Road  has a happy ending. Well, as happy an ending as you could have in a post-apocalyptic world where there seems to be more evil than good. Even though the father dies, the boy is essentially rescued by some random man and taken to live with him and his family. That’s nice…and completely unrealistic. The author lets us know that they’re good and won’t cause any harm to the boy, but if I were in his or his dad’s shoes, I wouldn’t be so easily convinced.

The boy is still young. Despite the circumstances, his dad has made sure that he’s maintained a bit of his innocence. When the man finds him he’s a little wary, but after a few minutes he’s convinced that they’re “carrying the fire” as well, and he has no problem trusting him. This is dangerous. People lie, and there’s no evidence to say that the man wasn’t just putting on a ruse for the boy. His real intent could have been to cause harm.

Looking at it from the dad’s perspective, I couldn’t leave my child in that world without a guaranteed protector. When the dad is dying, the son's safety isn’t ensured at all. Maybe the dad hopes that he’ll be able to take care of himself, or hopes that there will be someone to help him, but he isn’t sure. I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t have my child face the unknown alone. Despite being brought up in a world where survival is the only task, the boy is in no shape to live on his own. We’ve estimated the boy’s age to be around 8ish, and despite all his prior experience he’s just not ready. Yeah, he has the gun, but it only has one bullet. That means that as soon as he encounters an army or even just one person who’s bigger and stronger than him (of which there are probably tons, the kid is tiny), he’s done for. I couldn’t leave my child to that fate.

Maybe this is wishful thinking. I don’t know if I would actually have the strength to shoot my own child. But if the situation called for it, I hope I would be able to make the right decision despite the limited options. Plus, I don’t necessarily believe that death is “the end”. I don’t truly believe that there’s a heaven/hell or anything else…but there could be. And even though that’s as much an unknown as leaving the boy alive is, presumably we’d be facing it(whatever it is) together.