On The Road

Cormac McCarthy's novel is a story of parenthood. There's a way to read it, much like The Bicycle Thief, where parental authority is undermined and it is actually the story of a boy taking care of his father.

In the novel's post-apocalyptic setting, all that's left are the roads of the interstate highway system. At the end of Back to the Future, Doc Brown tells Marty, that where they are going they don't need roads, as if the future is full of possibility and roads keep people too grounded. But BTTF II is not some Utopian vision. Cars take to the skies, it seems solely for fantastic expectations. They function much like the hover boards we'll never see.

The roads in McCarthy's story are the panopticon. The father can see trouble before it finds them. But they still leave the roads at night for safety.