If there is one phrase I can guarantee you'll never see in this book, it's "welcome home!" You might ask how I can be so sure, but if you've read the book, you probably won't, because one of the most obvious characteristics of the small family in the story is their complete homelessness. They have no safe place for more than a few days, no guarantees, nothing indispensable, and certainly nothing permanent. They have no illusions about this, either, as the man constantly reminds the boy that they must go on, and cannot stay in places. Lest you think they are consumed with wanderlust, let me clarify -- this is a requirement for survival in their world. The oldest man they meet states this unequivocally, telling the man, "I was always on the road. You can't stay in one place... I just keep going." (168) Travel, no longer a pleasant precursor to vacation, has become a way of life for everyone, whether they like it or not. The only constant in their lives in the changes they know time will bring.
These characters use travel to find more resources, and more supplies, but that is not their primary motivation. They could easily make a home somewhere if they wished; they have found stationary sources of food and water, and places to live. However, the man has always declared these places "dangerous" (148) even though their alternative is the harrowing life on the road, and they have always moved on. Their commitment to travel is so strong, in fact, that it cannot be motivated by reason -- no, I suspect it is much more than that. Settling down and declaring a home, even only for a year or two, means accepting their situation as it is. Home means no travel, no quest for a better life, no hope for whatever they desire that they do not possess. So they search for comfort, not in a home, but somewhere in the future, somewhere far down the road.
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