Creative Assessment of The Road

Why do the characters in The Road not have names?

     This is the question our group wants to ask the author, Cormac McCarthy. I think the absence of character names adds to the overall atmosphere of the book. The book takes place a few years into a post-apocalyptic world where most people have resorted to cannibalism. Whatever caused the apocalypse also destroyed anything living, including any kind of vegetation. The world is very dull, gloomy, and bleak. The main goal of the man in the book is to keep his son alive, and the pair is very focused on getting to the shore in the hopes of being in a better environment for the upcoming winter. The pair are always looking for food and water that is safe to consume, and they are always on the lookout for other dangerous people.
     I think the absence of the names further emphasizes how unimportant names are in that world. Names don't really mean anything if you're not alive. A dead person holds little to no significance in that world. The father and son know who they are to each other, and that is all that matters. they don't need to introduce themselves to others because the others are probably dangerous and most likely cannibals. The lack of names for the main characters also distances the reader from the story itself. It's like even the reader can't come in a close contact with the main characters. The author puts a distance between the father and son and the reader, and I think this reflects the distance the father tries to keep between himself and his son and the rest of the world.