How are the two protagonists (boy and father) like and not like the 'bad guys?'

I think the very struggle to keep his boy alive forces the father to do "bad" things. It is this Hell the world has turned into that makes goodness next to impossible if one needs to survive. The father and son are "the good guys" as far as humanly possible. The son personifies "the good guys" in his heart. Both show little malice unless attacked and really I doubt the boy has any malice at all.