Existentialism On The Road

Why is it that this man, our main character, needs the little boy to know there is something to live for? Philosophers all over the world have deciphered that any person need another Human Being to know they are alive, because the other are the ones that confirm your existence.

The man in this history prefers to die of hunger before living the kid go to bed without eating. Through out the story the kid and the man have various fights about why the both should eat or why the kid should eat instead of the man. Another example of their bond is this man's wife, which leaves him because he already has the boy. Human kind needs someone else to know they are alive and that there is something worth living for. Why live while dying when you can die and be happy? because there is another human being that needs you to protect him and be part of his or her life, as you need someone to protect you.  Everyone needs somebody to take care of and to be taken care of, everyone needs to know why life is worth living and fighting for and that is why humans need another human being.

At various point of the book, the man shows the boy how much he needs him by telling him things such as "Listen to me, he said, when your dreams are of some world that never was or some world that never will be, and you're happy again, then you'll have given up. Do you understand? And you can't give up, I won't let you." (McCarthy, The Road) With this the man shows how he needs the boy, another human being to know there is hope of surviving the terrible world they now live in.

For who are you willing to live?

Gabriela