"He withdrew his hand and sat looking at the Coca Cola. [...] He put his thumbnail under the aluminum clip on the top of the can and opened it. He leaned his nose to the slight fizz coming from the can and then handed it to the boy. [...] The boy took the can [...] and drank. 'It's really good,' [the boy said], 'I won't ever get to drink another one," (McCarthy 23).
Everyone comes across a realization at least once in their life and taking things in life for granted is one of the most common. Clearly, it is a lot easier to appreciate the more momentous events, objects, and people. But the smaller scale items that are involved with everyday lives are the things that people truly need to be aware of. When objects or people are already present, many tend to overlook how important they can truly be. However, when those things suddenly taken away, people are awaken by the thought that things have much more value than they realized. This awareness occurred to me on my trip to Vietnam. There were things I was prepared for. Smaller living spaces, shared rooms, modes of transportation and more. But I did not consider that even the simpler situations that happen everyday were going to be difficult as well. Sleeping was the factor I was most shocked about. Obviously being raised in Canada I familiar to sleeping in a safe clean room and having to adapt to the room which was crawling with geckos and ants was a bit unsettling. Watching the geckos crawl along the walls as I fall asleep, and then waking up with several itchy ant bites was not something I was expecting. Moreover, I always thought about sleeping peacefully in my own bed but at least I was sleeping on a queen-sized mattress. Finally, when I traveled back to Canada, I was more than appreciative to be able to sleep without any unwanted company.
This quote gives me an understanding of what the characters are feeling and a theme from the book as well. The boy in "The Road" is struggling through a post-apocalyptic world
with his father and is far from living a "normal" childhood. A can of
soda can quite be the norm for a child, but for the boy it is an bizarre
drink. The characters in the road do not have anything left, and even the simplest things are considered a treasure to them. The book shows that even though it is unlikely for things to mend, anything that carries the slightest bit of greatness can be a motivator for hope.
