This progression can be most clearly seen by making a comparison between Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and the situation in which the man and boy find themselves within McCarthy’s novel, particularly in terms of the characteristics of the cave, the nature of the forms presented and the ultimate enlightenment each character receives. He suggests this by claiming that things that are good will make us feel happy inside while things that are bad will be immediately recognizable to the man who knows himself because these actions will cause “spiritual degradation and mental deterioration” (Sahakian, Sahakian 33) that will be immediately apparent.Īs the man and boy travel through the barren landscape, it can be seen that the ethics of the boy have developed along different routes than the ethics of his father, leading them each to different paths of salvation. Socrates takes this another step by suggesting that knowledge of oneself will instruct from within regarding those things which are good (moral and ethical) and those things which are not.

According to Socrates, it is the man who does not know himself who cannot accurately judge his own capabilities and his own unique path to the greatest good based on accurate use of his strengths and knowledge of his weaknesses. This is, ultimately, the journey being taken by the unnamed man and boy in Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Road (2006) as they travel from somewhere in the northern United States to the south in order to find a climate they can survive in the post-apocalyptic wasteland the country has become.Īs Plato was a disciple of Socrates and the source of much of the information we have regarding much of what this man had to say, Socrates’ concept of ethics is relevant to an understanding of Plato’s views and the discoveries of the characters in Cormac McCarthy’s novel. As seen in the writings of Plato regarding Socrates, which some will argue is a blending of the two philosophers’ ideas, one of the requirements for a moral and ethical man is that he must first know “his spiritual self as it really is, including all its shortcomings, strengths and potentialities” (Sahakian, Sahakian 32).

The cave plato