Life Is Hanging By A Thread

Without knowing  the cause of the chaos, we know the man and his child keep running away. They had been alone so far but now they walked along with a stranger too. We know the situation is very dramatic due to the appearance of the new man. "He was burntlooking as the country, his clothing scorched and black. One of his eyes was burnt shot and his hair was but a nitty wig of ash upon his blackened skull."(49) The man, being in the same situation as our two main characters, had been just more unlucky as he had been "struck with lighting".(50) Despite the child's eagerness to help the dying man, they were all in a state of desesperation, lacking material, and "[with] no way to help him". (50) We understand at a more profound level how hard this escape has been as we learn what happened to the man's wife. McCarthy permits us to infer the child doesn't want to live anymore with the absence of his mother since after the child says he wants to be with her, he says: "you mean you wish that you were dead".(55) After being introduced to the mother, we comprehend she is a negative person when she says they are "the walking dead in a horror movie"(55). Not only this, but the mother wishes she would have commited suicide long time ago "when there were three bullets instead of two"(56). Trying to make her reason,  the man fails the task since she had decided death was her new lover. Despite his tries, he saves his season from his mother's crazy plan, but is unable to save his wife. Losing the woman wasn't their only sorrow or fear. Along the way, they had to confront a man that came off a truck. Being close to getting killed, the man and the child managed to escaoe after the man killed the stranger. McCarthy depicts the murder in the following: "The man fell back instantly and lay with blood bubbling from the whole on his forehead", (66) traumatizing the young boy with this violent image. Finally, after they were safe again, they sit to eat along the road. We can infer this was a cold and awkward scene not only because of the situation that had taken place previously, but the father's words when he says "No. Of course not", (69) after the child shook his head when being offered to eat. After such a violent and scary moment, there was no way to feel anything but emptiness.