1
ENGL112 Essay Draft 1
A Journey of growing up: An analysis of the Joseph Campbell’s monomyth’s
character types of the man and the boy
In 2006, the novel The Road, which was written by Cormac McCarthy, an American
writer. It is about a father and his young son across a post-apocalyptic America after an
extinction event. The father took the boy south along the interstate to the coast. Moreover, he
taught the son they were good man who carry the fire. In the journey, they met various
challenges while he tried to do the best for his son however, he has violented their beliefs. The
fire is important during the path as it kept them to continue their life. They carried it to overcome
the dystopic nature of their post-apocalyptic world as the man and the boy tried to be humanity
in their journal. From the Joseph Campbell’s monomyth, the man is the hero and mentor with the
aims of survival and protection from threshold guardians, while the boy was the herald who
learnt and inspired to be a good man under the man’s guard. The role changed which the man
became the herald, and the boy was the hero when they met the trickster and overcame the
planned death of the boy. With the bonding of the man and the boy, the boy completed became
the shapeshifter which characterized him to be a good man and able to be survival, the goal in
the journey.
The man made use of all resources to overcome the struggle from death as he was sick
while the boy kept reminding him to hold their belief in being s good man with fire. As the man
understand they cannot survive in winter, they were going to south. While the boy was a
newborn in this world, he did not understand what the world looked like before the collapse. The
man wanted to the boy to know there were still kindness in the world. From page 12, “Old stories
of courage and justice as he remembered them until the boy was asleep in his blankets and then
he stoked the fire and lay down warm and full and listened to the low thunder of the falls beyond
, 2
ENGL112 Essay Draft 1
them in that dark and threadbare wood (12).”. The Fire came from the delivery of courage and
justice. The father wanted the boy to hold humanity and did not hurt others even they were
struggle from death such as starving or poor weathering. However, in the man’s hero’s journey,
there were tests, allies, and enemies that trying to stop him to be a hero. The man and the boy
met thresholds guardians such as one of a group of marauders and cannibals. From Page 18, “He
raised his head slowly, the pistol in his hand. He looked down at the boy and when he looked
back toward the road the first of them were already coming into view. God, he whispered. He
reached and shook the boy, keeping his eyes on the road. They came shuffling through the ash
casting their hooded heads from side to side. Some of them wearing canister masks. One in a
biohazard suit. Stained and filthy. Slouching along with clubs in their hands, lengths of pipe”
(18). The dehumanised cannibals discovered them which the father killed the man from the
cannibals. It is significant for the story development as the man always stressed on did not hurt
other in other conditions when he taught the boy. However, he killed the man in front of his son.
It also represented the father is hoping to protect his boy from the death. As the boy absorbed
and learned from his father about kindness, the boy was scared even the father told the boy that
the man he killed was a bad guy. It caused the boy wanted his father to make a promise about did
not kill or eat other even they are in difficulties. In page 25, the man promised the boy they
would not eat the dog even they were hungry. When they met animals that did not hurt them, the
man promised not to eat them as they did not want to be the same as cannibalistic group. It
showed that they were following the believes in humanity in their journal.
The boy became a hero on recalling the man about humanity which needed to help others
rather than solely benefited themselves when they met the old man Ely and overcame the
planned death of the boy. As the man was protecting the boy, he destroyed values from what he
ENGL112 Essay Draft 1
A Journey of growing up: An analysis of the Joseph Campbell’s monomyth’s
character types of the man and the boy
In 2006, the novel The Road, which was written by Cormac McCarthy, an American
writer. It is about a father and his young son across a post-apocalyptic America after an
extinction event. The father took the boy south along the interstate to the coast. Moreover, he
taught the son they were good man who carry the fire. In the journey, they met various
challenges while he tried to do the best for his son however, he has violented their beliefs. The
fire is important during the path as it kept them to continue their life. They carried it to overcome
the dystopic nature of their post-apocalyptic world as the man and the boy tried to be humanity
in their journal. From the Joseph Campbell’s monomyth, the man is the hero and mentor with the
aims of survival and protection from threshold guardians, while the boy was the herald who
learnt and inspired to be a good man under the man’s guard. The role changed which the man
became the herald, and the boy was the hero when they met the trickster and overcame the
planned death of the boy. With the bonding of the man and the boy, the boy completed became
the shapeshifter which characterized him to be a good man and able to be survival, the goal in
the journey.
The man made use of all resources to overcome the struggle from death as he was sick
while the boy kept reminding him to hold their belief in being s good man with fire. As the man
understand they cannot survive in winter, they were going to south. While the boy was a
newborn in this world, he did not understand what the world looked like before the collapse. The
man wanted to the boy to know there were still kindness in the world. From page 12, “Old stories
of courage and justice as he remembered them until the boy was asleep in his blankets and then
he stoked the fire and lay down warm and full and listened to the low thunder of the falls beyond
, 2
ENGL112 Essay Draft 1
them in that dark and threadbare wood (12).”. The Fire came from the delivery of courage and
justice. The father wanted the boy to hold humanity and did not hurt others even they were
struggle from death such as starving or poor weathering. However, in the man’s hero’s journey,
there were tests, allies, and enemies that trying to stop him to be a hero. The man and the boy
met thresholds guardians such as one of a group of marauders and cannibals. From Page 18, “He
raised his head slowly, the pistol in his hand. He looked down at the boy and when he looked
back toward the road the first of them were already coming into view. God, he whispered. He
reached and shook the boy, keeping his eyes on the road. They came shuffling through the ash
casting their hooded heads from side to side. Some of them wearing canister masks. One in a
biohazard suit. Stained and filthy. Slouching along with clubs in their hands, lengths of pipe”
(18). The dehumanised cannibals discovered them which the father killed the man from the
cannibals. It is significant for the story development as the man always stressed on did not hurt
other in other conditions when he taught the boy. However, he killed the man in front of his son.
It also represented the father is hoping to protect his boy from the death. As the boy absorbed
and learned from his father about kindness, the boy was scared even the father told the boy that
the man he killed was a bad guy. It caused the boy wanted his father to make a promise about did
not kill or eat other even they are in difficulties. In page 25, the man promised the boy they
would not eat the dog even they were hungry. When they met animals that did not hurt them, the
man promised not to eat them as they did not want to be the same as cannibalistic group. It
showed that they were following the believes in humanity in their journal.
The boy became a hero on recalling the man about humanity which needed to help others
rather than solely benefited themselves when they met the old man Ely and overcame the
planned death of the boy. As the man was protecting the boy, he destroyed values from what he
