How is the coming of age for the boy different to modern coming of age stores. But also what similarities are there ?
The boy in The Road is quickly coming of age in Hell. To be sure, a dying planet full of cannibals and lost souls isn't the ideal place to discover himself. The boy is the most empathetic character in the story; it radiates from him. Modern coming of age tales deal with parents, gender, awakening sexuality...Instead the son finds humanity in a place that God has forsaken. His coming of age is really a story of survival and the will to continue living on a damned planet. The only parent he deals with is his father. This relationship exists in an almost corporal manner. The sacred and the profane describe what father and son quietly experience.The boy finds what shreds of humanity remain under the cautious eyes of his father.
