Forget and Remember

In psychology, it is well known that an ugly thought lasts longer in the human mind than a pretty one. In a setting like that of The Road, it especially hard to keep that fact out of the mind. In cases like these, people can either keep thought of desperation and remorse in mind until they eventually die, or choose to think in a more positive form and increase their chances of survival. "You forget that you want to remember and you remember that you want to forget"(P.5) is the very thing that caught my attention to this idea.

Now, it's pretty obvious that the man and the son haven't been in this situation for all their lives. Typically, the things that people "want" to remember are the good memories form when things were not the way they are now. My theory is that these two have been so tied in their purpose to survive through the dark world that they have forgotten to look back at the way things were. This may be with good reason since it might cause a stir of sadness to remember a nice time in the middle of a horrible one. That, or it might only motivate then to move forward for the idea that remembering the nice times brings happiness. And there is nothing that helps you move forward than a happy thought and the hope of even slightly going back to the way things were.

The second part of the quote is not exactly a complete opposite. There is little to know of what is that they want to forget. It could be what happened that made them they way they are now, the good memories that might taunt them, or the memory of loosing someone very precious to them like a mother. But remembering that you don't want to think about something just sticks it in your mind more. So in a way, they are dragging the memories of the bad times in their backs instead of the happy feeling that might help them keep moving.

I find it hard to imagine that while trying to forget, they don't even have a small glimpse of the happy times. Back to the idea of psychology, the bad memories last more than the good. They choose to push the good memories aside. You choose how you want to think knowing that it will probably affect the way you act. But gladly, that's not the entire case. The man has a very good source of motivation. His son. And even though he might choose to think in the most negative form and have all those things on his shoulders slowing him down, he will not stop in sight of giving his son a better future.