McCarthy's Suspense

In Cormac McCarthy's Pulitzer Prize Winner novel The Road, the entire plot kept reminding me of a song. Specifically, August Burn Red's cover of the traditional Carol of the Bells melody. McCarthy insists on never telling the reader the history of the story that leads up to such a drastic world. Thus, creating an intriguing suspense that is portrayed throughout the novel. Every time a turning point or climax would occur in the story, I would get really excited because I was hoping that a critical detail would finally be revealed. But nope, as always, the event was just a tease. This is exactly how the alternative band plays the traditional piece of music. At one point in the story, the two main characters have finally seen another human in civilization. The father even talked to one of the bad guys. This is where the wavering music introduces repetitive jingles, slowly leading up to the main part. During this interaction with the other human, the bad guy snatches up the son and threatens to hurt him. Cue the guitars strumming in, creating more madness. After a few intense moments, the father shoots the bad guy perfectly and watches him fall dead with no remorse and the child comes sobbing back to this papa. Here, the chords are finally in full rhythm, with obnoxious downbeats that pronounces the scary event. A few weeks or so pass on by, the father and son find a broken down house, covered in gray ash. Once inside,the father finds a locked door and asserts that he must go inside to have a look around. The main chorus starts abruptly in the song, pleading with the father. After some struggles with the lock, the father swings open the door, just to find a bunch of human prisoners, waiting to be eaten by the elite prisoners, who are actually marching back to their haven at this exact moment. Within the song, the rapid scales are climbing on the instruments. The father and son turn around to efficiently run away. Another few months has passed since their last encounter. No people have been seen on the broken down roads leading South, hoping for a group of good guys that still want to survive with humane conditions. The father and son are lucky enough to scavenge some food and supplies. After years of waiting and dreaming to reach the ocean, they finally do! It's not everything they hoped it to be but the duo know how to make shelters work in their favor. Having made a camp at the beach and walking away without second thoughts, they come back with all of their items gone. Yet, the father and son find some footprints and start tracking down the homeless man who stole their cart full of stuff. While running, the music has turned into a drum solo that consists of a lot of bass grinding together and a repeat of the intense harmony. The duo gains their belongings back. Not even two days has passed before the father lies down to rest a while and dies from malnutrition or some other kind of disease. The music correlates with the resolution as the guitar, drums, and violins slow down immensely and fade into the background. Just like the plot of the novel, the music never declares a secret or the underlying story. Only drama happens with a lot of serious turning points, climaxes, and questionable endings. What is The Road even about? What happened to the world? Why is there a chance of cannibalism among humans? Does anybody even know what ever happens?! These thoughts parallel the traditional Christmas song as it slowly gains some detail about the past life but never actually answers the questions. Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6o-p-OAWmsY