Themes

A Key Theme in The Road  is morality. In this post-apocalyptic society, there are not many who have any morals left. Most people besides the Man and the Boy that we meet are robbers, murderers and cannibals. The two most extreme examples of people abandoning their morality are the house with the people locked in the cellar waiting to be eaten, and the headless body of an infant they find over a fire. The boy seems to be the only one left. Even Ely, the old man they met on the side of the road admits he would not have shared food with anybody else, and the boy did. This is somewhat curious, as one would expect that the morals of the old world would be more prevalent in those who had lived in it, but the boy does not remember what the world used to be like, and yet he strongly believes in helping people. The main question that should be in the reader's mind every time the man makes a decision to not help people is this; does a need for survival justify selfishness? That question of morality is clearly in the boy's head with Ely and the man who was struck by lightning, and likely there when they found the cellar with prisoners in it. (Although in that case the boy's fear might have taken over and made him want to leave as soon as possible)