Often only in the toughest of times are peoples' true colors exposed. Whether it is financial struggles or coping with a death, everyone reacts differently to trials. It is in these moments that you realize who a person really is - good or bad. In Cormac McCarthy's The Road, modern civilization's darkest fears are realized as he portrays a dark post apocalyptic world in which everything bad that can happen does. Contrasting reactions to this new world come to the surface and the theme of humanity - and lack of humanity - is explored. Like the other characters in the novel, The man's wife is never named but, her reaction to the apocalyptic events is one of importance. Rather than face whatever gruesome events might befall her, the wife's solution is…show more content… These "bad guys," as the son labels them, place no importance on humanity, kindness, or empathy. Some are more harmless, like the man at the beach who stole the father and son's cart full of supplies. Others, however, have resorted to more malicious means of survival. Huddled in the hatch of a once grand house were naked prisoners trying to shield their faces from the person at the top of the steps. One man lay on a mattress "with his legs gone to the hip and the stumps of them blackened and burnt" (110). The fact that the father and son did not help the people made even the boy question their humanity. As the "good guys," he feels it is their responsibility to give aid wherever they can. Later on, the man and the boy witness an even more disturbing sight - a "charred human infant headless and gutted and blackening on the spit" (198). This infant had belonged to the group of weary travelers, made up of three men and a pregnant woman, they had seen the previous night. For some, their humanity disappeared along with civilization. They committed heinous acts thus, abandoning their humanity for a dreary