“You wanted to know
what the bad guys looked like. Now you know. It may happen again. My job is to
take care of you. I was appointed to do that by God. I will kill anyone who
touches you. Do you understand?
Yes.
He sat there cowled in the blanket. After a while, he looked
up. Are we still the good guys? He said
Yes. We’re still the good guys.
And we always will be.
Yes. We always will be.” [77 McCarthy]
The father and
son’s mentality of being the “good guys” is very similar to the attitude that
is held by real life soldiers. In the novel, the man and his son both truly
believe that they are the "good guys", but what they do not realize
is that their actions are almost identical to those of the “bad guys”. Both the
"good" and "bad" are simply just trying to survive during
the difficult times they are forced to live in. In order to ensure the safety
of his son, the man is forced to kill one of the cannibals, but in reality, the
cannibals are also only trying to ensure their own survival. Besides, survival
is the only reason they have been forced to become cannibals in the first place.
This quote displays the similarities between the father and the army in a multitude of different ways. During the story, the father is prepared to do whatever it takes to
protect his son, which is very closely related to the mentality soldiers encompass during war.
Soldiers are willing to do whatever it takes to protect their country. Also, the
man places his son's protection above absolutely anything else. Likewise,
soldiers place the protection of their country over everything else.
Furthermore, the man is willing to kill
"anyone who touches" [77 McCarthy] his son, while soldiers are also willing to kill anyone who brings harm to, or is even a possible threat to
their country. Clearly, many similarities can be noticed between the attitudes
of soldiers and the man in the novel.
In the end,
some of the father's actions really leave the reader asking them self if the
man and the boy can really call each other the "good guys" in the
situation. Although the man and the boy do not participate in any of the horrific
deeds most of the survivors do to continue to exist, their mentality is the
same way, which ultimately exhibits that the man and the boy cannot fully be
considered the "good guys".
This journal entry gets its point across very strongly. however, it could have been more specific on what soldiers were being addressed. peace keepers? US soldiers? Somalian Pirates? non the less, the argument was justified and it has given me a new perspective on the "moral team" the man and boy are playing for.
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