Erasure of Boundaries between Good and Bad in “The Road”.

Erasure of Boundaries between Good and Bad in “The Road”.

           

The world of ‘The Road’ is a post- apocalyptic world where a disaster had already taken place and the conditions of human beings after that disaster are depicted. The time frame of a post- apocalyptic world of civilization is instantly after the calamity and it focuses on the psychology of the survivors in a world where nothing remains for them. In ‘The Road’ also we see that the civilization has come to an end due to an unknown disaster and most of the people are killed and a lot of them have abandoned the place, the people who are left are forced to kill other humans and eat them. The weaker ones have been slaved by the stronger that are using them as food. There is no vegetation and crops have also failed. The story is revealed to us by a series of different flash backs from which we come to know about his wife and her giving birth to the child and then committing suicide and the father and son left by them.

In the post modern world everything seems to break out of the predetermined boundaries. They do not follow the tradition and norms that were previously followed by everybody. Today everybody has his own definition of things. The things that are good for one person may be bad for the other. Erasure of boundaries in terms of good and bad means that things that were considered good are now termed bad. They may be good for us but for the other person under specific circumstances they may be considered bad. There is no clear distinction between good and bad. ‘The Road’ is one such movie where there is hope for survival and good. So whatever the characters do under those circumstances is the best they can do for themselves. The world in the movie is a disastrous place where they have no food to eat, no water to drink and no other person to talk with. They just have themselves and the father does not trust any other person and do not allow anyone to come near to his son. The son, on the other hand, wants to have some other human to talk with and is also willing to help anyone he finds on the road.

In the beginning of the movie when they visit a farm to check out for food, they come across people hanging in the farm house. The father tells the son that no body murdered them but they committed suicide when there is no solution left because if the person will not finish himself he will be cannibalized by the cannibals. So the person has to die one way or the other. They consider it good for them but traditionally everyone will consider it a bad thing. According to them it is good because it is an honorable death for them. Suicide in our world is not considered good and any body who commits suicide is considered a coward but in a situation where they have no other choice for them, it is the right thing to do. They live in a world where there is no boundary between good and bad.

The father always keep two bullets in his pistol so that whenever they are caught in a situation where they are unable to get themselves out, they will commit suicide. He is mentally prepared for this and do not hesitate for a moment. For him this is correct and good because if he will not kill himself, he will be killed by the cannibals or may be he will be eaten up alive and his body cut into pieces. So killing himself is better than being eaten up by animal like humans.

From the very beginning of the movie we see that the father is teaching his son how to put the gun in his mouth and pull the trigger to finish himself. No father is expected to teach such a thing to his son and even fathers are expected to keep their sons away from arms and weapons. But here we see the opposite of it. The father is all the time teaching his son that he is supposed to commit suicide if he feels that he will be caught. He even tells the child that he has to keep the gum tilted in his mouth and then pull the trigger so that it would kill him at once. This he does because he loves his son a lot and do not want the cannibals to kill his son in front of him. In such a situation whatever the father is teaching his son is considered good because it is obvious that no father wants his child to be killed in front of him.

Through a flashback, we come to know that his wife do not want to give birth to the child. She is of the view that the child should not come to this world where there is no hope for any body. The father do not agrees with her and keeps on telling her that they will survive the difficult time and will be happy one day as they used to be. The wife is very pessimistic about life and she feels that it will be wrong to give birth to a child in such circumstances where the boy would have no hope and no future. Being a mother she will always think for the best of her child and no mother would want to kill her child unless she feels that the world will be a worst place to live in. Being a spectator of the movie one cannot say whether it is good or bad as we see the child throughout the movie. There is no change in his condition, he is starving and malnourished and he has no hope for survival as well. A mother would never want to see her child in such conditions.

From another flashback in the movie, we see the husband and wife arguing after the birth of the child. The husband succeeds in convincing the wife to give birth to the child but the wife keeps on insisting and telling her husband that their condition will not get better and they will be killed one day. She wants him to bring an end to their misery but the husband considers it a bad thing and do not agrees with her. She tells him “other families are doing it”, which means that it was common for them and there is no question of good and bad in it. It is the right thing to do as the coming time will be more difficult to bear the hardships of that time. The wife finally leaves the home with very few clothes on, in the cold and never returns. The husband tells she died in the dark and cold. The same husband who was convincing his wife not to commit suicide teaches his son the way of committing suicide. One cannot distinguish which one is good and correct and which is not.

After the scene when the father kills a cannibal to save his son from him, the son questions his father, “Are we still the good guys?” and the father tells him that they are good guys and they will remain good guys no matter what they do. Here as well the boundary between good and bad is erased because the cannibals are also killing other humans and the same is done by the father. The cannibals kill others to feed them because they do not have anything to eat and all the crops are destroyed and food is finished. So they decided to eat other humans. The father on the other hand tries to find whatever is left to eat and survive on it. Also he kills the cannibal to save his son. Both of them consider them selves good.

While travelling south they come across a house and decide to check it out for food. The house seemed to be occupied by somebody but it was empty at the moment. The father and son sneaked into the house like robbers. Robbing anybody is considered bad and there is a punishment entitled by law for the robbers but here there is no law and any one can take any thing they like. In the house they do not find anything to eat. When they were searching the kitchen they found a door at the floor of the kitchen. The father opened and went down to have a look. It was the basement of the house where some people were locked. Some of them were missing some body parts like arms, hands and legs which were cut off by the cannibals. The father ran out of the basement with his son and closed the door. He did not tried to help them out, he only saved himself. If it were any other situation, the hero would have helped the trapped people and fought the cannibals but here nothing happens. They both hide in a toilet and when he overhears one of the cannibals coming up, he gives the pistol to the child to shoot himself if any one enters or they are caught. The son hesitates to shoot, so the father takes the pistol in his own hands and points it at the forehead of the boy. Such an act is not normally expected from a father. He could have fought and escape but his first thought is to use the pistol and kill them selves to save them. They are only left with one bullet and the father saves that bullet for the child so that the child may not be tortured by any one. The father thinks for the good of his child by doing this but it does not seem to be the correct decision to us. We consider suicide to be a bad thing and we believe that one should die fighting but should not lose hope.

At another place when they come across an underground storage of food the child asks his father, “We did good, didn’t we papa?” and the father answers in positive. They enjoy the food and eat to their full. The child loved that place and had in mind that it belonged to somebody else and they are eating their food without permission but the father told him it was the right thing to do and we also saw that the owner of the place had died long ago. So he did not consider it a wrong thing to eat and live in their place as it was abandoned.

After moving out of the under ground storage place the father and son come along an old man on the road. The father does not want to help the old man and save the food for them but the child wanted to help him out. He gives him a food can to eat so that he can have the energy to walk. The father tells the child that they cannot keep the old man because they will run out of food and the old man will die any way so they will waste food on him. They offer him dinner and he accepts. The father asks the old man whether he has thought of dying or killing himself to which the old man replied that death is a luxury and he has never thought of it. He used the word “luxury” for death implying that life in this world is a misery and pain. It is a punishment and the old man also tells him that there is no god because if there were any god he would have seen them and done something for them. The old man seems to be very disappointed and hopeless of the conditions in the world. Hopelessness prevails every where and people only think about themselves. There is no boundary between what is good and what is bad. The father and the child leave the old man and go on their own way. They do not care what will happen to him and they are also aware of the fact that either the old man will be caught by the cannibals and killed or he will die on the road.

Further on the road when the father and the son are being robbed off their stuff, the father runs after the robber and punishes him by taking all their belongings and all his clothes as well. He leaves him naked in the cold to die. The child does not want to do this to the black man and asks his father to return his belongings as there are only few good people left in the world and they should help each other and not be the bad people. The son thinks that the father is doing badly to the black man and he forces his father to go back and help the black man but the man was no more there. He leaves the clothes and some food for him by the side of the road. The father thinks it is foolish of his son to do so and he should trust every body as he will not always be around to help him.

By the end of the movie the father and the son come to a street where some body shoots arrows at them and one of the arrow hits the father’s legs. In return the father shoots a flare at the man and man dies. The lady in the house curses him and he comes out and carries on his way. He did not ask any thing to the lady. He went into the house to kill the shooter and when he finds him dead, he is satisfied and leaves. He does not care about the woman and did not offer her any help. He continues on his journey with his child.

Throughout the movie we see that humans have no value, people are dying but no body cares. Every body is thinking of himself and taking away things from others and making their condition more miserable. They do not think about their acts beings good or bad, they even do not think about the consequences of their acts on others. In this world where they have no hope and no food, they only think of their own survival and few good people who are left alive also know that they will also die one day and there will be no change in their miserable survival.

Work cited

The Road. John Hillcoat, 2009. Film.