Cormac McCarthy's fictional novel The Road depicts a post-apocalyptic America with a solemn tone to show the effect of the death of the Man's wife. The man's wife committed suicide after she realized that she shouldn't have to endure the rape and eventually murder. The wife's death influences the man's later outlook on life because he no longer has as much faith for his son and himself. The man grows tendencies of keeping the boy's hopes up while not having any himself. "Okay. This is what the good guys do. They keep trying." (137) The man pushes the boy to believe he is not doing any bad in taking the supplies in the bunk that they found stocked with many supplies. He does this in order for the boy to see that what they are doing is not deceiving but rather something the people who previously owned the shed and are now deceased would be ecstatic or even proud of. The man even goes as far as to lose hope in any form of religion. "Maybe he believes in God," the old man says. The man replies, "I don't know what he believes in." (174) This portrayal of disbelief comes to show the effect that the post-apocalyptic America has on the barely surviving adult. The desth of his wife only furthered his disbelief of any higher power. It can be assumed that he lost all faith in a higher power when she died because of the belief that a mythical God would stop her from killing herself. The idea of God is deterred when the man has a conversation with his wife before her death. "What in God's name are you talking about? We're  not survivors. We're the walking dead in a horror film." (55) When his wife calls them survivors he is immediately angered by the thought because they are being completely ignored by this Savior. The man needed a verification and that never came for him leading to his great loss of hope for survival and prosperity in the post-apocalyptic America that he has come to know as his home. The demise of someone who is close to another greatly affects the person inside and out. In times like these those people need a confirmation of a higher being and when they don't have that they lose all rational hope.