Creative Assessment

Why do the characters in The Road not have names?

I believe that it's not the fact that you don't end up relating to the characters, I just feel it ends up being unnecessary to have names. We are only following these two.

name  

/nām/

Noun A word or set of words by which a person, animal, place, or thing is known, addressed, or referred to.

Verb Give a name to: "hundreds of diseases with were isolated and named"; "she named the child Edward".

Adjective (of a person or commercial product) Having a name that is widely known: "name brands geared to niche markets".

Synonyms noun.   reputation - title - appellation - denomination - repute verb.   nominate - call - designate - appoint - term - denominate What is reputation to two people? You call someone by their name to differentiate them from a crowd of others. The world is so secluded that you needn't have a name. What is a name in a world where you don't matter anymore? What is a name in a burned, and dying world? A name can be seen as a confirmation of who you are. In this world, who is there to learn who you are?  You don't need someones name to become close to them. A name is a label. The Road doesn't need names. Whatever the reason McCarthy chose to not include names, this is just my take. It's like the Holocaust. Your name in unimportant. Only your number matters.  Last 2 on earth? Will you find what you were looking for? Were you actually looking for something? Were you finding a reason to live? Or were you just trying to distract yourself?

What's Your Fire?

Honestly, if I were in a post-apocalyptic situation, I would have no fire. Right now I really thrive on nature - in The Road, everything is absolutely covered in ash and dead; including the animals. Maybe my fire would be just to see what I could find. Yeah, that's probably what it would be.

Alberto: Ask me that question.
Me: What question? What's your fire?
Alberto: "You are my fire, the one desire, believe...when I say...I want it THAT WAY!"
...Oh Backstreet Boys haha.

Anyways. Yeah. I would be walking down this road just to see what I could find. Who could I find? Without dying of course...I'm not too sure I would want to be eaten. But that brings us back to where the woman didn't seem to want to keep this baby because it would either end up getting raped or eaten, as well as herself. Perhaps the question is rather not if you want to die by suicide (considered a sin?) to save your dignity (as in the simple contradiction here) or get killed, raped, and/or eaten.

The father was talking to his son about the gun being pointed up when he shoots to ensure he died.