The Road Blog 12

“He bent and scooped up the rags in his arms and piled them on top of the shoes.
He stood there holding himself. Dont do this, man.
You didnt mind doing it to us.
I'm begging you.
Papa, the boy said.
Come on. Listen to the kid.
You tried to kill us.
I'm starving, man. You'd have done the same.
You took everything.
Come on, man. I'll die.
I'm going to leave you the way you left us.
Come on. I'm begging you.
He pulled the cart back and swung it around and put the pistol on top and looked
at the boy. Let's go, he said. And they set out along the road south, with the boy
crying and looking back at the nude and slatlike creature standing there in the road shivering and hugging himself. Oh Papa, he sobbed” (135).

While continuing on their journey the father and son attempts to find their belongings, which had been stolen. They finally stumble upon the thief who stole their supplies and clothes, so the father points a gun to the thief who was wielding a butcher’s knife; though he misses it still scares the thief. The father tells the thief to strip and give them his clothes – this is to exact revenge on the thief because he wanted to leave the thief in a state that the thief had left them in. Now this action angers the boy because all he ever wants to do is help people and make sure that no one dies, so later on his father returns to the spot they left the thief at and leaves his clothes on the road.

The father actions show inequality because the thief who was cleverer and was able to steal their barrow was finally ousted. As a result, the father shows who were more superior and better by making the thief take off his clothes and leaving him to die. This shows that humans don’t show sympathy to those that had done wrong to them. They claim why they should help someone who put them in a horrible situation and instead resort to revenge. Revenge is a leading factor in someone attempting to oust their opponents who they could not beat beforehand, but now they have the power to do so. People create disturbances to others because they believe their victims to be inferior; thus they can do whatever they want – stealing, speaking their mind, etc. Since the father thought he was now superior (pistol wins over a knife) he was able to beat the thief and demeanor him. Human nature is to group people into superior and inferior groups – people hate others because of color, race, religion, etc. No matter how much is done to stop this from occurring it can never be fully stopped.