/lit/ - Literature

Here is another one by me from an earlier thread a few months back while I remember:

The Road is a McCarthy's take on the Binding of Isaac. It mirrors Kierkegaard's focus on the myth as a sort of ultimate testing-ground of true faith, but where Kierkegaard does not push such a situation to its worst extremes, this is exactly what McCarthy does in situating the father's burden in a terrible world. Instead of an abstract deity serving as the catalyst for sacrifice, the wasteland (where there is absolutely no hope) serves as the ultimate catalyst. McCarthy makes a clear statement here: even in such bleak conditions faith does not overcome such a bond. But just like Kierkegaard, McCarthy opts out of following the gruesome outcome of true faith: the boy is saved in the end just as Isaac is saved.