A journey through post-apocalyptic America, a man and his son walk south towards the coast, toting some paltry scavenged items to survive...
My take on the novel: Amid the burnt ashen landscape, utter destruction and loneliness, cold nights and strong winds and piercing rain, sun and moon blocked into darkness, the world as before left only to their dreams, the man and his son are bonded by love, courage, and their need for each other... Out of that comes beauty, a triumph against the utter devastation rendered by mankind... Also, the boy wants to help the few people they encounter on the road... He is troubled by killing and by taking what is not theirs...He has inside him, as his father tells him, "the fire," or goodness, revealing that morality and virtue are indestructible in the face of total cataclysm, and the roaming cannibals left in its wake... This is symbolized both by the fires they make each night to keep themselves warm and by their repeatedly saying to each other that they are the good guys... Indeed, the man and, especially, his son may be seen Biblically, and their journey over mountains, rivers, caves, and wildernesses as a pilgrimage.
My only question: What is meant at the end when the man said they decided to track the boy?
The novel's language is poetic... A haunting novel... I really like this book.
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