Section 5 pages 49-60 question 2

The boy is a Christ-figure. He possesses an inherent empathy in the midst of the diseased depravity mankind has become. The boy earnestly hopes that he and his father are the "good guys" left. The boy feels this man's pain and wants to comfort him. Father knows they have little to offer the man and that they can barely keep themselves alive. Kindness for others is dead in this disintegrating world: the father does not trust anyone.