FREE ESSAY ON END OF THE ROAD

END OF THE ROAD

John Barth manifests the pessimism of existential philosophy by allegorizing God, Satan,
and the soul of Man, through the use of Joseph, Jacob, and Rennie, respectively. This
conceit reveals not only because of the constant emphatic repetition of the words "God
and lord" when referring to Joe, and "hell, and damned" when referring to Jake, but it
can also be viewed in terms of the situations that Rennie struggles in between these two
beings.
According to Rennie, "Joe is God." Like God, Joe punishes harshly when crucial mistakes
are made, but then forgives. For example his socking of Rennie when she apologized to him
displays that overwhelming intolerance that God is known for throughout the writings of
the Old Testament. During this conversation Jake makes a direct reference to Joe as God
and vice-versa: "That blow had struck harder than God imagined." She sees his being as so
strong that it could even afford to look weak at times. His being emits sanctioning if
not demanding order for every decision or action that Rennie, or metaphorically speaking,
mankind takes. This being wants her to believe that she indeed carries an autonomous will
enabling individualistic decisions, but as Rennie's actions show, she can only do and not
do in terms of the conditioning provided by a greater entity- this being God or the
Devil. 
Just as man finds comfort in denying the existence of Satan, Rennie rejects Jacob's
reality. This mental consolation arouses man because of an innate fear of temptation
derived from our Godly origin, and also, because of pure fear of hell. The former
personal philosophy arises from the ideology that we are creatures of God and He has
placed it within us to negate the evil and obscurity of this world. Thus, since Rennie is
a direct subject of Joe, she imposes to Jake that he does not exist. This idea is
expressed entirely through Rennie's dream. First, she tells Jake that he compares to
somebody inside a dream only to follow up with a description of a dream she had where the
Devil was friends with Joe. Then she states, "Joe…told me that the Devil wasn't
real, and that he had conjured up the Devil out of his own strength, just as God might
do." The metaphor of Jacob as Satan does not necessarily imply that he is pure evil. It
does however manifest the devilish qualities of creating temptation, scrambling a
person's life, and not assuming responsibility for any harm or damage caused.
Rennie's inescapable death symbolizes that man is doomed to failure. Her struggle between
good and evil, reason and un-reason, and being and non-being, leaves her with no control
over her own life. God and Satan are constantly fighting for the soul of man. The human
personality is not vast or strong enough to yield to both of these forces and still
remain independent enough from either one to be self-sufficient and complete as an
individual.