Doomsday

The Road is a very emotionally gripping book and, at many times, I was tempted to put it down because the images were too gruesome, the lack of compassion forced upon the characters because of a need to survive was hard to read, and the utter hopelessness of their situation was too much to bear. As I mentioned last week, I believe that it was inhumane for the father to keep his son alive under these circumstances and that suicide would have been the most compassionate and rational thing to do. However, after reading the end of this story, I am not so sure if I agree with what I said last week.  Perhaps, when faced with adversity, we do have to do everything to make sure we survive because we never know when things might start getting better or if all hope is absolutely lost. Maybe, if all humans responded to catastrophe by committing suicide, the human race would have died out eons ago. Responding to this crisis in the way that this man and his son did, by taking “the Road” and by not giving up, they are doing their part to continue humanity. Although there may no one left to appreciate the struggle that the father, son, and those like them went through at the end of this ordeal, this may have been the “right” thing to do. They are carrying “the light” even if their dreams may not be attainable because they have not given up on the hope for a more decent life in a distant future for their descendants. I am reminded of another song by Regina Spektor called “Apres Moi” which contains the line “‘I’m not my own, it’s not my choice” (although the song is not explicit, I believe that it is talking about suicide). Perhaps, suicide is selfish, even in this situation, because it is robbing potential offspring from a life. In the end of this story, there is hope because  the son from “the Road” and a young girl have been brought together: I almost believe that the father’s sacrifice may have been worthwhile. Finally, although I agree with Simone that the ending is a bit lackluster, I am not really sure if the story could really end in any other way (in my opinion, having both the son and the father die would have been a waste of the reader’s time and having the father live would have been too happy an ending for this book).