A Theme in The Road

There are many themes presented throughout The Road. Not only the themes of devastation and isolation that is shown by the world they now live in, but also the theme of going far in the world if they remain the “good guys”. These themes illustrate the society they live in and how they are responding to it. However Cormac McCarthy shows a major theme of the book both in his writings and in some of his interviews. He shows the theme of gratitude, being grateful for what we have. As he states in his interview, “Life is pretty good, even when it looks bad. We should be grateful.” The world we live in is not like the world in the book The Road. We need to be grateful for that. We have access to everything we need to survive and with new technology we have so many more luxuries. This theme is also shown in the book. In a world where they have almost nothing, the man and his boy are grateful for the findings and items that they do have. They are grateful for each other and for their life. McCarthy might be telling us that we need to be grateful for the life and the things we have now. Even though death, survival, and loneliness are major themes in the book, the idea of gratitude shows a major theme both in the book and in the real world. Not many people are grateful for what they have and Cormac McCarthy uses this theme to illustrate the consequences in the future. We have to be thankful for the life we have now and live each day as if it were our last.