There Must Be Something

After walking on the road for what seems like eternity, the man and his son have finally reached the sea. It turns out to be a big disappointment for everybody. I don't know what the man expected to find there, but it's definitely less than what I had hoped for. I had been expecting the sea to be somewhat of a salvation for the miserable couple. I imagined that this place would be warm and lively. I even began to imagine that there would be people living along the coast, perhaps exempted from the horror that had devoured the continent.
It's too sad that this wasn't meant to be. The ocean was also victim of whatever catastrophe plagued the world. We can share the kid's frustration when he realizes that it had lost its blue hue. I had been hoping that the ocean, a typical symbol of power and mystery, would have survived the apocalypse. It seems that not even the greatest and most powerful feature of nature known in our planet was able to shake off the ashes and now it lies “bleak…Cold. Desolate. Birdless” (215).
Now that there is nowhere else to go, what are they going to do? Should they keep moving or is their journey over? This reminded me of a dream the little boy once had about a toy penguin. It moved and flapped its flippers even though nobody had wound it up. Like the penguin, the man and his child are living on for no reason. Now that they have reached the sea, there is really nothing that drives them forward, but they insist on staying alive, waddling on with no winding.
Despite the adversities they have to affront, I think that there is still hope for the man and his son. The fact that they survived this terrible catastrophe and that they are still alive is proof that they aren't doomed. Most signs of life are gone from the planet, but they have been able to conserve theirs. Is it wrong to believe that there are other good guys out there, surviving the way they did? Who knows if at the other side of the ocean "there's a father and his little boy and they're sitting on the beach"(216). It's even possible that at the depths of the ocean there could still be life. Maybe "great squid propelling themselves," or “another man ...with another child on the dead grey sand...lost to the same indifferent sun"(219).
If all of this were to be true, then there’s a possibility of rebuilding civilization. Of course it won't be like it used to be, but at least it would be a place in which the kid will be able to grow, and life on Earth can be restored.
For now, all that is left to do is to remain living, and perhaps, eventually they will find other good guys with whom they can share their fire with. As long as they are both breathing, there is still hope.