The Road by Cormac McCarthy discussion

Through allusions and imagery to Christianity and the Bible in "The Road", Cormac McCarthy has written this novel as a Christian allegory. McCarthy makes this a Christian allegory through the post-apocalyptic world, when the clocks stop at 1:17, the Boy's innocence, and God like characteristics in the Boy.

The first allusion to the Bible comes from the post-apocalyptic world. This post-apocalyptic world that the Father and Boy are living in can be paralleled to the world described in the book Revelations. In Revelations there is catastrophe that hits the world when Jesus is returning. The world they live in is barren and had been destroyed by an apocalypse. In the Bible, the story of Christ's return is usually portrayed with fire everywhere. In "The Road" the world the story is set in is burnt and ash covered. This implies that McCarthy is paralleling the world in "The Road" to the world after the apocalypse in Revelation.

The second allusion to the Bible is when the clocks stops at 1:17. "The clocks stopped at 1:17. A long shear of light and then a series of low concussions"(52). This quote shows that the apocalypse is happening or about to happen. McCarthy purposely has the clocks stop at 1:17 because this is a Bible verse that is significant to the novel. The verse 1:17 can be interpreted from two different books of the Bible with two separate authors. The first interpretation comes from the book of James. "all good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no alternation or shadow caused by change."(James 1:17). This Bible verse is explaining that everything God has given is perfect. For the novel it can be interpreted in two ways: the apocalypse is from God and good will come from it, or that this perfect gift is the Boy who has not yet been born, but will be soon after. The second interpretation of the clocks stopping at 1:17 is from Colossians. "He is before all things, and in him all things hold together" (Colossians 1:17). This verse has sense of hope to it. For "The Road", this is a foretelling of the Boy being the hope after the apocalypse. Although, he has not been born yet.

The third allusion to the Bible is the Boy's innocence. This comes from the book of Genesis and the Creation Story. The Boy's innocence is like that of Adam, before the serpent tempts Eve and she gives the forbidden fruit to him. Adam was given the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge from his wife Eve. Adam did not know what tree the fruit came from, he was innocent. He took the fruit because he trusted his wife and didn't have second thoughts of the consequences. The boy was born in a post-apocalyptic world which is a disaster and he did not know any better of what he was to expect or how he was supposed to understand anything from the past. Like Adam, the boy was naive and did not know any better of what to expect of this "fruit". The "fruit" to the Boy would be the post-apocalyptic world and its lack of anything.
Thomas Schaub of Marquette University agrees that McCarthy is alluding to Adam and Eve in the novel, but it is a consequence for corrupting Adam's innocent. "In describing the beginning of their journey on the road, McCarthy gives his narrator a Miltonic cadence in ironic echo of Adam and Eve departing Paradise" . "Then they set out along the blacktop in the gunmetal light, shuffling through the ash, each the other's world."(McCarthy, 6).

The fourth allusion to the Bible is through God like characteristics in the Boy, which is shown from three quotes. Throughout the novel, McCarthy associates the Boy with either fire or light. In the Bible, the Holy Spirit often appears to people in a flame or bright light. For example, the Holy Spirit appears to Moses as a burning bush. The Boy says to his father, "Because we're carrying the fire" (83). This quote shows that nothing bad will happen because they are carrying the fire, which in this case is the Boy. "Yes I am, he said. I am the one." This quote shows that the Boy has Christ like qualities because he knows that he is the one. In Revelations 1:17* Jesus says, "...I am the First and the Last" (Revelations 1:17). Here Jesus is saying that he is the One, like the Boy. Also, this ties back to the clock stopping at 1:17. This is another interpretation for why they stop on that time. "There was a light all about him" (277). This quote is discussing that the Boy was glowing when he brought his Father back a glass of water during his illness. This is like when Jesus is is resurrected and is glowing. Through the Boy, McCarthy is alluding to God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
Ron Charles from the Washington Post says, "...can't help but be read as a Christian allegory, especially when the boy is referred to as a tabernacle..."


"The Road" by Cormac McCarthy was written as a Christian allegory. The novel is a Christian allegory because of how McCarthy had alluded to the book of Revelations and other books in the Bible, as well as giving characters qualities that represent Christ or God. These allusions were achieved through the post-apocalyptic world, the Boy and clocks.
Andrew Dansby has this to say about "The Road" in a review, "Both the book and especially the film are full of religious imagery and themes."

Everything McCarthy has written can be seen as a "Christian" allegory. The question is does he see it as a positive or negative one.