A common theme in The Road is a father and son relationship. I believe that this is the most important theme in the novel because without their relationship, they have nothing to live for. Another big theme in this book is death. The protagonists are faced with death on almost every page in the book. It is like a shadow following them wherever they go.
In an interview with Cormac McCarthy, he was asked the question, "The Road, is this love story between father and son, but they never say, "I love you." Cormac McCarthy answered that he didn't think "I love you" would not have added anything to the story. What I found very interesting was that McCarthy said that many of the conversations between the father and son in the book, were copied verbatim from conversations Cormac had with his son, John. For example, one conversation they had was a very powerful talk about death. John said, "Papa, what would you do if I died?" I said, "I'd want to die, too," and he said, "So you could be with me?" I said, "Yes, so I could be with you." Then McCarthy said "Just a conversation that two guys would have."
Conversations like those, are very powerful and strong subjects that are hard to evade. The other main theme in the book was death. Cormac McCarthy has a very sharp and passionate idea about life and death. In another interview with McCarthy he famously said that he only cares for writers who “deal with issues of life and death.” He think books that don't involve life and death, "are not literature." These statement show that Cormac has a very strong point of view about life and death. Many of these views are expressed in The Road.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704576204574529703577274572.html
http://biblioklept.org/2009/11/28/cormac-mccarthys-issues-of-life-and-death-hans-falladas-complex-resistance-and-jonathan-lethems-bloodless-prose/
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