In conclusion, the man has proved that he is a strong and brave person that can fight against his fears of death until he dies. He still keeps in his determination to keep
surviving and invests his strong belief to his son.
4. Protecting his Son from Cannibals
The father always attempts to protect his son from the bad men or the cannibals. The cannibals are described in the novel as wraiths that are stumbling along the roads,
bands of refugees marching military style, and a small family group that locks up refugees in the basement and cannibalizes them one by one. The need of safety is very strong. The
father has to be careful in getting along with other people. It is very difficult to differentiate the good people from bad people because every human being competes in
order to survive. In this case, the father determines to avoid people they run across so that they will not be consumed by the cannibals. He uses denial, one of defense mechanisms
types, to solve his problem. According to Freud as quoted in Human Motivation denial refers to “a refusal to accept consciously the existence of a threatening situation.” 73. In
the novel, the father considers that all people they meet on the roads are bad people to avoid.
In his efforts to avoid confronting against the cannibals, the father refuses to help other people along the roads. Once, he and his son find a man struck by a lightning. The
man looks so miserable that the boy wants to give him a hand. He was as burnt looking as the country, his clothing scorched and black. One of his
eyes was burnt shut and his hair was but a nitty wig of ash upon his blackened skull. As if he’d done something wrong. His shoes were bound up with wire and
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On the contrary, his father refuses to help the man because they have no way to help him. The father probably thinks that the man has died and there is nothing they can do to help
him. On the other occasion, the son encounters a little boy, whom he pleads for his help.
This can be understood that the son needs other friends who he can share and play with. However, his father refuses to do so because it is possible that the little boy is a lure and
they will have been captured. Further, they meet a wandering man called Eli but it is not his real name. In the beginning, the father does not want to share his food with the stranger
but his son insists on giving it. They finally briefly befriend with the stranger. We cant stay here. We have to go.
He’s scared, Papa. I dont think you should touch him.
Maybe we could give him something to eat. He stood looking off down the road. Damn, he whispered. He looked down at the
old man. Perhaps he’d turn into a god and they to tress. All right, he said 173. It can be concluded that by refusing giving help to the other people, the father wants to
ensure his son’s own survival and tells him that there is nothing to share. He uses his emotional-cognitive thinking to read the situation and anticipate the danger.
Meanwhile, the father sacrifices his life when confronting directly with the cannibals. He shoots a cannibal that takes his son as a hostage with a knife pointing to his
son’s throat. He shoots right the cannibal’s forehead by leveling his pistol that makes the cannibal die with blood bubbling from the hole in his forehead. He also strikes his attacker
that hurts his leg with an arrow. When he is trying to protect his son from the arrow, he pushes his son’s head down and covers him with his body. In short, the father always
works hard to protect his son from the cannibals even he has to risk his own life.
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CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
This chapter consists of two parts. The first part provides conclusions that present the answers of the question stated in the problem formulation. The second part states
suggestions for future researchers and for teaching-learning activity.
A. Conclusions
There are three main points that can be concluded from the analysis. They are the characteristics of the father as the main character in the novel, his motivation in conducting
his struggles, and the ways he struggles. Based on the analysis, the father in The Road is depicted as an easygoing, educated and affectionate man. He is also a skilled, sick,
responsible, wise, smart, and brave person. Those characteristics can be seen from personal description, character seen by others, speech, thought, direct comment, reaction, past life,
and mannerism. The father looks easygoing from his filthy clothes which is getting unworn and
from his situation that always lacks of food. He sparingly eats and tries to survive by eating the left food he can find in many abandoned houses and supermarkets. He is also a skilled
man who is good at machinery and gun. He can use the available tools to fix his broken stuff and modifies it to be more useful. He shoots his enemy right on his forehead that
causes death. The father is also an educated person. He is literate and is able to explain some knowledge related to human body, health, plant, and common knowledge taught in
school. In The Road the father is also depicted as a sick man. He often coughs up blood and his body is getting weak because of it.
Besides, he is affectionate and responsible. He always tries to comfort and understand his son. He reads books for him at night to make him happy. He even sacrifices
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