A Grave Encounter

Until now, the story had mentioned no specific characters other than the man and his son. The mother apparently committed suicide, leaving him forever with their child.

Now, a new presence has appeared in the story, and it's the men in the diesel truck. These are the men the man has been hiding from all this time. They are obviously dangerous and should be avoided at all costs. Unfortunately, one of them runs into their hiding place, and after he tries to kill the son, the man is forced to sacrifice one of his bullets on him. The kid, filled with the man's brains, is terribly shocked at this, and he begins to wonder. Worried, he asks his father, “Are we still the good guys?"(p.77).
This question had stunning effects on me. How is a father supposed to explain to a child the complexity of the situation? The idea of murder is a very delicate theme to discuss with a child. However, there is a definite justification to the circumstances. The man he killed was probably a murderer himself and was definitely going to kill them both. Judging by the fact that the man was so desperate to avoid them must mean that they were a threat to their survival. He had asked the man what they were eating, and when he responded, "whatever we can find"(p.65) he never specified what it was. It wouldn't be surprising that the reason this men are so dangerous is that they have become cannibals. Hunger can drive men to the limits, and in order to survive, they might have turned to this twisted solution for survival. The author implies this when the man goes back to the place were "he found the bones and the skin piled together with rocks over them. He pushed at the bones with the toe of his shoe. They looked to have been boiled."(p.71).
It seems that the man had a good reason to kill the man, and the murder was necessary. Despite the thought that only God has the right to decide who lives or dies, there seems to be little room for argument in this grotesque situation.
The truth is that in this savage and ruined world, there is no right or wrong. There is just survival.