WSJ: "The Road" is this love story between father and son, but they never say, "I love you."
CM: No. I didn't think that would add anything to the story at all. But a lot of the lines that are in there are verbatim conversations my son John and I had. I mean just that when I say that he's the co-author of the book. A lot of the things that the kid [in the book] says are things that John said. John said, "Papa, what would you do if I died?" I said, "I'd want to die, too," and he said, "So you could be with me?" I said, "Yes, so I could be with you." Just a conversation that two guys would have.
Both McCarthy and Oprah clearly enjoy their conversation, showing a kind of opposites-attract chemistry as two people who have excelled at the highest level of very different fields. She catches him blushing as he admits that The Road is a love letter to his son, and chides him for his failure to understand women even after three marriages. As she leads him through topics from life to literature to personal finance, he never seems inclined to dumb down or dress up his answers, but gives carefully considered responses that show real respect for the questioner.
Paternal love
The theme of paternal love is ubiquitous given the relationship of the two protagonists. As the man's wife points out before her suicide, "the boy was all that stood between him and death" (25). In other words, the man's thirst for survival is fueled by the love for his son. While the man may expect his own death, he lives in order to seek life for the boy. Unlike his wife in her suicide, the man does not wish to "save" his son from civilization's destruction, rape, murder, and cannibalism by killing him preemptively. To the father, suicide is only an option for the son if he is to be imminently harmed. Perhaps for this purpose he leaves the pistol with the boy whenever he explores a new and potentially unsafe location alone.
In "The Road", one of the biggest themes in the story is the theme of love, and paternal love. The man demonstrates great love for his son throughout the story. For example, the man gives his son all of the treats that he finds in their quest to reach the south. One of the treats they find is the Coca-Cola can. He is willing to kill his son in order to protect his son from the cruel reality of the world they live in, and he also takes the burden of keeping his son alive while his wife, "The Woman" committed suicide to relieve herself of a burden of fear and pain. The father also refuses to abandon his morals in order for him to support his son's innocent outlook on the world. The boy could very easily be the reason that the man refuses to resort to cannibalism - his love for his son supersedes the need for survival.
