One Emotional Conversation

Before you read the below excerpt you need to understand that McCarthy's writing style is very odd. He uses no chapters or any divisions of any kind. He also uses no quotation marks at all. Conversations can be very confusing, which I'm sure is something he wanted. It can take many times of reading the same passage just to understand what happened. But anyways, on to the one of the conversation between the father and son.

What is it? the man said.
Nothing.
We'll find something to eat. We always do.
The boy didnt answer. The man watched him.
That's not it, is it?
It's okay.
Tell me.
The boy looked away down the road.
I want you to tell me. It's okay.
He shook his head.
He turned and looked. He looked like he'd been crying.
Just tell me.
We wouldnt ever eat anybody, would we?
No. Of course not.
Even if we were starving?
We're starving now.
You said we werent.
I said we werent dying. I didnt say were werent starving.
But we wouldnt.
No. We wouldnt.
No matter what.
No. No matter what.
Because we're the good guys.
Yes.
And we're carrying the fire.
And we're carrying the fire. Yes.
Okay.

-McCarthy 108-109

This conversation was one of those moments when I was reading and just put down the book and took a breather. The fact that a little boy just asked if they would ever resort to eating people is really terrible. Just imagine your little brother or sister or son or daughter legitimately asking you if yall are going to eat somebody. What kind of world would make a child think that? When the boy asked that it made this fictional world that McCarthy has created so much more real to me. While McCarthy has brilliant vivid imagery, this conversation adds the emotional aspect of this world.
This conversation also really gave light to the overall situation that the father and son were in. They may be living in a world of complete death and misery but they will never resort to eating another human being. While eating another human in our society may seem absolutely ridiculous, eating someone in the post apocalyptic society they live in is very real. The fact that the father can say such an honorable thing in such a desperate time is a true test of his character. McCarthy has built this man as almost a saint. Although he has moments where you see how this world is really affecting him, but that will come in a later post.
Lastly, this conversation shows the motivation that they still have to carry the fire. The fire they are referring to is not a physical flame but a representation of the life they hold inside and they don't want to loose it.