The Road by Cormac McCarthy is a piece of literature that describes the possible effects of a post-apocalyptic world on a man and his son. From a superficial reading, the novel portrays the bond between parent and child and the struggle to survive unforgiving scenarios. However, upon closer study, McCarthy's true intentions to warn humanity of possible consequences for the development of the world are revealed. This story not only suggests that our destiny is violent and dark, but also predicts the self-destruction of humanity. It would be incomplete and insufficient to read this book without considering what it suggests about the evolution and structure of our mortality, representation, and beliefs. Under the clarity of a psychoanalytic lens, The Road can be read as a novel about the development of a young boy's individuality in a post-apocalyptic world. The insights into fear, loss, and personality theory brought to light by psychoanalysis are important components of the boy's journey to becoming an individual and distinguishing himself from his father. It is through these ideas that it becomes apparent that "the road" is not just the literal one that the man and his son travel, but the figurative road that the boy takes to become who he is at the end of the story. plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Psychoanalysis, which explains much of how McCarthy's novel works, is a study founded by 20th-century psychologist Sigmund Freud. This field explores the unconscious mind, instinct, repression, desire and sexuality. The hidden part of the mind, which Freud called the "unconscious", is a dimension of the mind that is consciously inaccessible, but which indirectly influences our behavior and some aspects of our personality. Part of this unconscious includes Freud's work theory of personality in which he explains the movements between our instinctive and moral decisions: the Id, the Ego and the Superego. The id is the place of uncontrollable instincts in the mind, the ego is the part that controls the id to keep our behavior in line with what is socially appropriate, and the superego has a moral influence on the ego . These morality-influencing parts act symbolically in The Road, as manifested in the characters themselves. Another of the central characteristics of psychoanalysis is Freud's idea of ​​fear, which he defines in his General Introduction to Psychoanalysis: "the occasions, objects and situations which arouse fear will depend largely on our knowledge and our feeling of power over them". external world” (Freud, 4). The boy's fears are revealed to be compatible with this definition by studying their manifestations. His knowledge and control over the outside world is weak due to the nature of the ravaged and unforgiving world around him. She initially feels no power over the outside world and clings to her father, but then gradually develops her own voice and influences their path throughout the novel. The fear that the boy expresses most clearly is that of being alone, which according to Freud originates from the separation of the child from the mother's womb at birth. This fear then expresses itself throughout life as the fear of being alone (Freud, 5). This fear is intensified for the boy because he loses his mother a second time, through death, which is more powerful than separation at birth because the boy is aware of the situation. These parts of psychoanalysis allow the reasons for the boy's behavior during his maturation to be made clear and understandable. The fear of separation emerges immediately in the first conversation of the novel, when the boy leaveswakes up and calls his father: “hello, dad,” he said. "I'm right here." I know” (McCarthy, 5). This shows that the boy needs to be reassured that his father is still with him after waking up one morning to find that his mother was gone (58). It is clear that the two need each other, and this interaction comforts the boy. As revealed by Freud's work, the first fear people experience is an initial separation from the mother at birth, which reverberates throughout life. The boy is a more extreme case because he experienced this crisis twice: once at birth and once with the death of his mother. This puts him in constant separation anxiety and affects his behavior throughout the novel. This behavior gradually reveals that the fear of being alone surpasses the fear of death. This is especially evident when the father asks the boy if he wants to die watching someone else die, and the boy responds with “I don't care,” the boy said, sobbing. I don't care” (McCarthy 85). This complete submission to her anxiety is powerful because it parallels her mother's suicide. Having both separations from his mother so close together (a disruptive event in Freud's theory) has led the boy to reveal some problems he may have in the wake of the apocalypse. After this behavior, the father becomes worried and tells his son that he "mustn't say that." The way the father immediately calms down to comfort the boy reveals that this reminds the father of his wife; he fears that the same suicidal ideation could manifest itself in his son. This is the first event that demonstrates that the boy has a mind separate from his father's, setting the boy's development on his own path. The Id, Ego and Superego appear in The Road in a symbolic and extremely important way for the child. the boy's role in the novel. These components of the unconscious, rather than being significant in the boy himself, are significant for the relationship between the boy, his father and the world around them. As the boy matures, he is shown to recognize the importance of morality in this new world. He often questions his father's decisions to keep him tied to his values. A simple example of this is when the two share hot chocolate and the father pours more into his son's cup. The boy surprises him by jokingly reminding his father of his promise: I have to watch you all the time, said the boy. I know. If you keep the small promises, you will keep the big ones too. That's what you said. I know. But I won't. (McCarthy, 34) By keeping his father in line, the boy remembers his father's principle of not breaking promises, despite his father's initial motive to give his son a larger share. This is symbolic of the interaction between the ego and the superego. According to psychoanalysis, the task of the Superego is to exercise a parental influence on the Ego and to counteract the innate instincts of the Id. With the boy's role as his father's superego, he serves as a constant guardian of their morality. When the father abandons this morality to keep himself and his son alive, the son refuses to speak to him (52). However, as he grows up, the boy learns to rationalize with his father rather than remain silent. He goes from a questioning tone to a plea: “just help him, dad. Just help him” (259). The repetition of this phrase emphasizes the boy's realization of his ability to influence his father's thinking. This change parallels the boy's growing separation from his father. While at the beginning of the novel we saw the boy and the man as a pleasant couple, we now see individuality in the boy. The definitive separation of the two occurs in the most powerful moment of the boy's development: the death of his father. Despite his.