Note: Character descriptions will contain information that may spoil the story if you have not read the book yet.
McCarthy has a very unique way of telling this story- he leaves the main two characters unnamed. They simply are known as the father and the boy. Oddly enough I feel closer to these two unnamed characters than most of the characters that I have read about previous to this that have names. I believe McCarthy's reasons for doing this are that in leaving the characters unnamed it lets the reader visualize any farther and son, and subconsciously the reader would pick someone closer to them, such as their father, thus making the story much more powerful.
The Father
The father is very admirable and good willed. All he wants is for his son to live and reach the coast. His son is all he has left and nothing is more important to him. Although at times he questions whether or not he should kill his son to end his misery and sadness in a place that's almost worse then hell.
The father does go through a little bit of a transformation throughout the story. You see him slowly give up on the belief that they will make it through alright. And it's not that he necessarily thought they would make it, but he didn't want to admit they would die because at the point all hope would be gone. He also slowly gives up on keeping his son from seeing the horrors in this world. They were everywhere and impossible to hide but as a father he wanted to keep his son pure and protect him.
Take my hand, he said. I don't think you should see this.-McCarthy 161
What you put in your head is there forever?
Yes.
It's okay Papa.
It's okay?
They're already there.
I dont want you to look.
They'll still be there.
This first conversation shows what I saw as the first weakening of the fathers will just because he realized that the boy really does know the horrors of what happened.
In the shallows beyond the breakwater an ancient corpse rising and falling among the driftwood. He wished he could hide it from the boy but the boy was right. What was there to hide?-McCarthy 199
We see the father consciously admit that the boy was right and he couldn't hide what surrounded them.
When the story starts the father is also very patient and understanding with the boy-such as when the boy forgot to cover the car. Later on the boy leaves their only weapon of defense, the pistol, on the beach. The reader is shown the father's anger but he does not let it out on the boy. Shortly after this they encounter some unfriendly others and the father gets shot in the leg. This event caused the father to erupt on the boy but he immediately felt terrible about it because the boy is his only companion and his only love.
The father also sinks into deeper depression as his son grows more independent and becomes less trusting of him. All that's keeping them together by the end of the story is the loneliness in the world. This is probably one of the biggest factors that is causing him to slowly die.
The Boy
The boy is like any other boy, curious and simplistic. He wonders why they can't help other survivors they find. He is also very scared of being killed and harming other humans. His father is the only person he has ever really had so the bond between them is incredibly strong. He is also young and very impressionable so every time he sees a corpse or another living person that they don't help it strongly influences him and makes him incredibly sad.
In the beginning he is presented as very innocent and untainted. He has the nightmares that any child would have and, like any child, goes to his father for comfort. As the story progresses he sees corpses and mutilated bodies which leave a deep mark on him. Later on these begin to give him nightmares that he won't even reveal to his father.
A dream the boy has early on:
I had this penguin that you wound up and it would waddle and flap its flippers. And we were in that house that we used to live in and it came around the corner but nobody had wound it up and it was really scary.-McCarthy 31
This dream is a fairly normal nightmare with a haunted toy in a lonely house. He dreams of nothing deathly or gruesome.
The relationship between him and his father gets much more tense as the story progresses. The boy seems to think his father is a hypocrite almost always and a liar at times. The boy wants the truth no matter what it may be.
This conversation occurs between the father and son very late in the novel shortly after the father is wounded and shouts at the son.
What about dreams? You used to tell me dreams sometimes.-McCarthy 227-228
I dont want to talk about anything.
Okay.
I dont have good dreams anyway. They're always about something bad happening. You said that was okay because good dreams are not a good sign.
Maybe. I dont know.
When you wake up coughing you walk out along the road or somewhere but I can still hear you coughing.
I'm sorry.
One time I heard you crying.
I know.
So if I shouldnt cry you shouldnt cry either.
Okay.
Is your leg going to get better?
Yes.
You're not just saying that.
No.
Because it looks really hurt.
It's not that bad.
The man was trying to kill us. Wasnt he.
Yes. He was.
Did you kill him?
No.
Is that the truth?
Yes.
Okay.
Is that all right?
Yes.
I thought you didnt want to talk?
I dont.
This conversation shows some tense feelings that the son has towards the father. Later on McCarthy directly says
"In some other world the child would already have begun to vacate him from his life. But he had no life other."
The only thing keeping the father and son together at this point is the fact that neither of them have some else to turn to. The son's development follows that of any other child. He begins very trusting and dependent on his father and over time he wants to get away and realizes his father is lying about certain things to keep him happy.
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