The Road By Frank Mccarthy - 1274 Words

The landscape of a post-apocalyptic society contains nothing to live for, it is a world without the people you love, without sun, flowers or food; only lawlessness, fear and uncertainty of survival. McCarthy creates a post apocalyptic world in his book, â€Å"The Road,† that addresses the issues of our time by illustrating the fears of society and the violence that accompanies them. These fears at the time were most recently initiated by the attacks of 9/11 and the subsequent Iraq war and the resulting violence experienced both in America and around the world. McCarthy’s â€Å"The Road† is a worst-case scenario, in which the broad American view that we are invincible and our principles are infallible is challenged. And with the violence in today’s†¦show more content†¦A canteen. An old canvas army pouch. A leather sheath for a knife. When he looked up the roadrat was holding the knife in his hand. He d only taken two steps, but he was almost betwe en him and the child.† (McCarthy, 65). Since 9/11, we are a country that fights an invisible enemy of terror, and must defend itself against this threat. It is feasible that Americans in 2006 feared human-inflicted destruction of the U.S., if not the whole world. The man and his son are also fighting an invisible enemy. They never know when or where someone will attempt to kill them. Although the man and the boy are fundamentally peaceful people, if challenged they will use the necessary force to protect themselves from this enemy. So, in this passage when faced with the choice, the man chose violence to fight violence and ensure the survival of the boy. In contrast, in an article in the New York Times, Thom Shanker reports on Secretary of State Condolezza Rice’s opinion of a mandate approved by the United Nations. â€Å"Rice urged the peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon yesterday to act on what she termed ‘a very robust’ mandate approved by the Unite d Nations that grants international troops authority to challenge anyone who attempts to block their mission, and to use force if necessary† (Shanker). This mandate authorizes troops to fight anyone who gets in their way, allowing for the use of force if necessary. In both passages, the need for the use of force is left up