Theme of Courage in The Road by Cormac McCarthy and Wild by Cheryl Strayed Essay Example

Courage is the ability to do something that you know is difficult and potentially dangerous. Having courage does not mean that one is not afraid, but rather you face your fears by doing something that you are afraid of. Showing courage could be something as little as going on a rollercoaster or it could be as big as preparing a speech for your mother’s funeral. In the books, The Road, by Cormac McCarthy and Wild, by Cheryl Strayed, the protagonists face many obstacles that must be overcome with courage. 

It takes courage to be honest with oneself and others. In Wild, Cheryl Strayed has many flaws and she worked up the strength to be honest with herself about them. For example, she admitted that heroin could be a big problem for her. Paul, Cheryl’s ex-husband, explained to her that every time she does heroin it is like she is playing Russian roulette (Strayed 142). In the moments of her dangerous acts she didn’t really care or consider the consequences, but eventually she realized Paul was right. This took a lot of courage for her to admit to herself that she had a serious problem and it shows how much Cheryl has grown since her addiction. It also took a lot of bravery for Cheryl to confess her actions of adultery to Paul. This was not an easy issue to acknowledge and it took Cheryl a good amount of time to admit. Cheryl finally decided to tell Paul about the affairs because it was long overdue and she felt guilty. By telling him, she was trying to heal herself and confront her pain. She wrote, “When I said all the things I had to say, we both fell onto the floor and sobbed” (Strayed 36).  Once she admitted to Paul that she was an adulteress, she lost him as a husband forever. She could have easily covered up her past affairs and never told Paul, but instead she decided to own up and tell the truth. Sometimes choosing the right path can be difficult and require an enormous amount of courage. Additionally, Cheryl opened up to a new friend she met while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). She experienced a lot of hardships and tragedy in her life that she did not like to reveal to others.  Being real and raw takes a lot of courage because it leaves her exposed and displays her vulnerabilities. Albert had asked her why she was hiking the PCT and at first, she did not give him a full answer. When they were about to part ways, Cheryl spilled out, “‘I wanted to tell you about why I decided to hike the PCT. I got divorced… and also about four years ago my mom died”’ (Strayed 115). She goes on to say that she thought the PCT would help her find her center. It was difficult for her to tell her life story to Albert, but once she felt comfortable with him it gave her the strength to do so. Overall, it takes a lot of self-awareness and perseverance to be honest with yourself and others. 

Cheryl is also courageous on her hiking journey. To be able to hike months on end in the wilderness all alone takes a lot of physical and mental endurance. Cheryl was met with many trials on the trail, but she always chose to push forward. Early on her path, Cheryl was feeling discouraged and she said, “I was going to quit. Quit, quit, quit...” (85). Moments later she met Greg, who gave her strength and inspired her to keep going.  It was always at her lowest moments when something or someone would show up to give her the courage and strength to focus on her goals. Although she appreciated the help along the way, she later decided to stay independent and turned down the offer to hike on with Doug and Tom through the snow. She chose to go on alone because that was the point of her mission: self-reflection and making peace with her past. Holding true to her original plan of hiking the trail by herself takes a lot of courage and willpower to follow through, especially when she has the opportunity to hike with others. As well as holding true to her plan, she felt it would be a mistake to hike through the snow. There is a difference between being reckless and courageous. When she bypassed the snow on the PCT, she was not being cowardly, but rather smart, as it would have been reckless to hike through the snow due to lack of experience and preparation. All in all, Cheryl had to believe in herself and stay courageous on the trail. Some of her choices may be mistaken as lacking courage, but she made the best rational decisions for herself. 

Cheryl’s courage benefited her in many ways. By being successful on her hiking journey and being honest with herself and others, she was able to become a better version of herself.   She compared her heart to a black hole and said, “Every now and then I could see myself—truly see myself—and a sentence would come to me, thundering like a god into my head, and as I saw myself then in front of that tarnished mirror what came was the woman with the hole in her heart” (Strayed 34).  Later, we find out that Crater Lake used to be a volcano until it erupted and became a hole in the earth. Eventually, it filled up with water and became this beautiful blue natural beauty. Similarly, Cheryl’s heart exploded when her mother died and became an even darker hole afterward. Now that she has become courageous and is facing her life head-on, her heart is filling back up.   

Just as Cheryl faces her fears in her book, in The Road, the father and son are extremely courageous on multiple accounts as well. Courage is what helped the father and the boy live longer. When facing so much death and despair, it takes immense strength to not just give up on life. The father said, “Listen to me, when your dreams are of some world that never was or some world that never will be, and you're happy again, then you'll have given up. Do you understand? And you can't give up, I won't let you” (McCarthy 189). The father tells his son he cannot give up, no matter what happens. This would be the easy thing to do, but he must fight to survive. It takes courage and trust for the father to leave the boy alone in the woods with a gun. As a father, it is heart wrenching to raise a child in a world knowing the potential of what could harm him. It takes even more courage to give your child a gun in case they would need to kill themselves. The father says, "You know how to do it. You put it in your mouth and point it up. Do it quick and hard" (95). This is very scary for a child so young and because of the situation, he is forced to be courageous. In addition, it takes a lot of courage for the father and the boy to open the second cellar after seeing the half-eaten people in the first. The boy really does not want to at first because he is traumatized, but the father convinces him to be brave because they have no choice and need to find food. In this example, having courage worked for their benefit, but this is not always the case for the duo.  There are always bad guys lurking around the corner that they have to be wary of. The father and son need to have courage every single day because they live in an apocalyptic world, never knowing what to expect and what the day might bring.  For the pair, courage is not voluntary, but rather necessary. 

Overall, in the books, The Road, by Cormac McCarthy and Wild, by Cheryl Strayed, the protagonists face many obstacles that they must overcome with courage. Courage runs much deeper than just facing fears for the protagonists in these books. For the father and the boy, being courageous was the difference between life and death. For Cheryl, being courageous was so important in turning her life around. In a way, the main characters in both books are fighting for their lives.