코맥 맥카시의 『로드』: 언어와 기억하기를 통한 구원

Abstract

In the absence of a universal religious system, the quest for religious meaning remains a central theme in the works of some American novelists such as Cormac McCarthy. This essay examines McCarthy’s exploration of the possibility of redemption in his post-apocalyptic novel, The Road. The unnamed father’s selfless devotion to his son, a messianic figure, illustrates the Christian virtues of hope, faith, and charity as described in the Bible. In contrast to the mother’s despair and Ely’s nihilism, the father’s belief in his son’s sacredness and his ritualistic care of the boy are excellent examples of the aforementioned Christian virtues through which individual redemption may be possible. However, The Road is not a traditional narrative of redemption because it does not end with the man’s triumphant transcendence of death or the world’s regeneration after violence and destruction. Instead, the novel’s last paragraph depicts brook trout, a symbol of sacredness. McCarthy suggests that language has the power to recover the lost world and redeem life by evoking memories of things past. The Road is a modern narrative of secular redemption that assimilates the possibility of experiencing spiritual transcendence within the power of language and remembrance.