Alobaidi 1

Talal Alobaidi
Professor. Barnhart
October 11th, 2015
English 113B
Love can be destructive
The book The Road all began with a man and his son. The story was first set in a postapocalyptic world knowing that they have already been this way for at least a couple of years.
The place and date was unknown by both readers and characters. They both are unnamed by the
author, and it could be something that would add up to the novels tone that this could be
happening, to write the story in a way that is reflected to the story and its setting. It doesnt have
chapters, he leaves out the apostrophes, and he chooses to use no quotation marks. The vast
journey the characters the boy and the father had to pass through changes people into a
somewhat normal but mysterious ways. The thirst for survival makes humans capable of
anything, especially things we dont see these days, for example people eating each other is even
hard to think about. We can imagine many traumas and reactions that may happen to us as
humans but we would never understand how it really feels until we experience it ourselves.
People change in a world such as the world we look at in the novel. Civilization is gone and
people will turn into how animals live, always searching for food shelter and would eliminate
any threat on them or their families. However as Dale said in the movie The Walking Dead, the
world may be gone but keeping our humanity is a choice. Surviving of the fittest is the phrase
for a world as the one we see in the book, but killing humans is always a choice. Love is
something that will be there no matter what age of the world it is, or whatever trauma there
might be. Love can be approached in many ways, and it can happen between people in levels

Alobaidi 2

depending on the relationship. Love is no doubt something beautiful to have in our lives, but
what Im writing about is how the beautiful thing can change into the cruelest thing that is
capable of happening to any human alive. The Road had a topic that was going throughout the
beginning until the end of the novel which was love. Love almost built everything into a story
where if it wasnt for love the story would be entirely different.
As most of us know love is a feeling coming from one human towards another having
affection towards him, whether if it was between parents and children, couples, or even love that
can happen to any human no matter what the relationship is. You can hear about love in the past,
present, and even stories or movies. In the book love is a continuous thing which was happening
between the father and his son. It was an enormous motivation for the man to survive just by
having his son there by his side loving him. He fought harder than he would have, and he even
pushed himself more to survive the wild world their living on. We can see it as a good thing;
however, putting yourself instead of the man you may understand why it is worse than we really
think. The father faced uncountable traumas and his life is threatened. He can give up which was
probably what he would have done if it wasnt for the boy, but him watching his boy which he
loves more than his own life is more destructive than his life being threatened with any kind of
trauma he may face. The father survives and is scared of death not because he doesnt wants to
die, well actually he doesnt want to die but the only reason is for his son to survive not himself.
It is true that love made him survive and try harder, but he would rather die than to see his son
suffer a world such as the one theyre in. Thats is why he pushed himself harder and sacrificed
himself just for his son to survive. Love can be destructive in many ways. If someone had his son
kidnapped with having to pay his own life instead of money in order to let him survive, he would
do it even without thinking about himself. He may think of solutions for not getting himself

Alobaidi 3

killed, but if the only way was for him to die then he would. It is normal to get scared on loved
ones but it is also destructive when the time comes.
The father had no hope in life, but his son and the love he had to him helped him,
otherwise he would have died and an evidence for that could be found on page 29 where it
mentions, That the boy was all that stood between him and death. The father having hope to
survive from his son may be good somehow, because thats what we live for to survive no matter
what age or world we got born in, but having to watch his son not only live in a post-apocalyptic
world, but also to see him rapped, killed, and eaten in front of him. That itself is more torture for
the father than any trauma he faced or could face during his whole journey. He didnt get to see
his child get killed, tortured, eaten, or even raped in front of him, but if he did he would never be
more broken down than he would be by this time. In a world like this love is the only thing that
could probably make a human smile, other than finding a fresh cheeseburger of course. Love can
be a glimpse of heaven; however, it can also turn into a trip in hell.
According to Dodgson, Charles the thirst for wealth and power can over run ones love to
his father, THE CLASSICS OF MOST literary traditions contain an epic tale of a son's
ambitions thwarted by a fathers reluctance to relinquish power. Richard Li the son of Li Ka
Shing in the article Charles wrote is about used the love he had to his father the way he was
supposed to. If he didnt care for his father as much as the wealth love would be destructive. It
wouldnt be destructive for the son, but it will be more than destructive for a father to see his son
betray him for money. Rather than gripping stories of sons upstaging their fathers, Chinese
literature is full of fable-like examples of sons making extraordinary sacrifices for the sake of
their father's well being. As I said love can be destructive in many ways, it doesnt have to be

Alobaidi 4

physically or in a dead world. Love would be destructive where ever and whenever the time
comes. It would change a human entirely based on how effected was he.
I may have kids and a loyal wife where love isnt destructive and that way I am happy, but
if I wasnt lucky enough love would change me from the inside out where there might be a
chance of me killing myself if I had a broken heart and didnt have motivation from others to live
on. Being isolated without love in our lives like the father would have been without his son
would lead to an unhealthy life; therefor, humans in the past and present whether they were rich
or poor, they would always have someone to care for and love in their lives. Why do we as
humans get born and automatically love people we may know or not know without thinking of
the destructive side of it, like having to love someone more than yourself knowing you will lose
him at the end. Dean Ornish explains in his article Love and Survival explains why we are born
with emotions, feelings, and the need to love or be loved instead of being most likely like robots,
always isolated.
The thesis of this book is simple and straightforward: our survival depends on the healing
power of love, intimacy, and relationships, both personal and global. Best known to his creative
response to heart disease through diet, meditation, and life style changes, Ornish tackles in this
insightful text the deepest offering of the heart - our openness to loving and being loved.
According to Ornish, we are not spiritually and emotionally but also physiologically meant for
creative and intimate relationships. Loneliness and isolation increase the risk for heart diseas,
stroke, and other illnesses, while love and intimacy prevent and cure illness.
Looking at how we need love in our lives even when we know it may be the most destructive
thing that could happen to us, we can instantly see how we are supposed to go through this. We
get born to love and if you werent lucky enough love changes directly into a mistake making our

Alobaidi 5

unconscious side of the brain wish we can go back to the past and do something about it. For
instance looking at the fathers point of view, he had many things to be scared about and they
would increase by each day; however, his son being with him in this journey was his biggest fear.
It is true he is alive and thats whats important, but the boy dying or being raped then eaten is
the biggest fear any parent could possibly have. The son is the reason why the father is trying
harder and it would be a good thing, but just imagining ourselves instead of the father would
explain how love can truly be destructive in its own ways. You may say its all about luck, but
love is a good thing and we all know that from our own experience. Some may felt the
destructive side of love by losing someone close whether it was by death or just an end of a
relationship. The father passed through much worse than we in a civilized world have passed
through. You can see in the world were in now women being raped killed but probably not
eaten, so we have in this world humans willing to rape and kill, and the family of the victims
have felt the destructive side of love without having to live in a post-apocalyptic world.
In the novel the mother commits suicide without thinking of her son before herself, and
other than that it was a great deal to the father watching his wife give up in such a world with a
small baby between them. After she had left the man was isolated into a world of darkness all
alone only a small baby with him. He felt the destructive side of love in even before having to go
through the journey with his other loved one, he had to live on knowing his wife, the mother of
his boy killed herself. After having to live with a memory such as this the father had bigger
concerns which was his sons safety. In a world such as this it is quite similar to the past, how
humans lived in a world without anything but scavenging for food. What humans did in the past
is train their kids for the things they may face to grow up like their parents. However the father
knew he may die leaving the son alone, so instead of training him and making him go through a

Alobaidi 6

rough time with him so he wouldnt when hes alone. He loved him so much thinking of his
comfort only. He does not train him or have him do the things he must learn if he was alone. In
the less violent situations the man gives his son as many treats as he can, for instance the coca
cola or the powdered drink mix, and he even tells his son to eat his share of food when hes
dying instead of trying to regain his health by eating. All the actions the father has done to his
son is more than just a sign of love, but it is not usually a good thing because if the father dies or
goes missing the son would be less likely to survive. It is normal not wanting to see your child
suffer, but not watching him suffer will make him suffer even more than he would have when
hes alone. The father knows there might be a chance for his son to die or be rapped if something
went wrong. Thats why he couldnt stand a second of just imagining it, and that is when he
gives him a gun to kill himself when the time comes. It is much better than having to suffer
things that can be much worse than dying.
Do you hear me? You know how to do it. You put it in your mouth and point it up. Do it quick
and hard. Do you understand?
The father would be fine with being killed and eaten rather than seeing the one he loves go
through something just as simple as starving. In my opinion I would rather live what the father
lived through and even worse conditions but without having to see or know that my son is going
through the same, because being alone and having to go through the worst possible situations is
much better than to see any one I care about like a son go through a small portion of what I went
through.
Paul talked generally about love only, and how humans feel or react about love generally.
He looked at love from 4 different aspects while the first one was about love as action. He
explains how love isnt about feelings only, and that it would need some action not just to prove

Alobaidi 7

it and the closest example is what the father did to his son in The Road. Almost everything the
father did during the story was for his son. Then he switches to love as giving where he
explains the need to give and the need to receive based on how much they love each other. Love
as Need is the third thing he mentions, and he explains that the need for love can be overridden
by mostly will and desire. The Need to Love which is the fourth and final aspect he talks about
that is quite similar to the one above; however, it inclines towards communication between each
other more. Paul Gregory talks clearly about love and how does it form in a psychological way.

Alobaidi 8

Work Cited
Dodgson, Charles. its a family affair. Communications International Oct. 2000: 49.
Computer Database. Web. 12 Oct. 2015. URL http://libproxy.csun.edu/login?
url=http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE
%7CA66582049&v=2.1&u=csunnorthridge&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w&asid=07419cd9dbb064ecc85
cf858dee1b47d

Reviewed Work: Love and Survival: The Scientific Basis for the Healing Power of
Intimacy by Dean Ornish. Review by: Bruce G. Epperly. Journal of Religion and Health
Vol. 38, No. 1 (Spring, 1999), pp. 91-92. Published by: Springer
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27511337

PAUL GREGORY Journal of Applied Philosophy Vol. 3, No. 2 (1986), pp. 229-233 Published
by: Wiley Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/24353498.