The old man Ely

The old man Ely is a mysterious, nearly blind wanderer whom the man and the boy encounter on the road, a figure who embodies the moral and existential ambiguities of the post-apocalyptic world. He is a liar, a survivor, and a reluctant prophet, whose cynical philosophy and refusal to accept help or give thanks force the boy to confront the limits of his own compassion and the nature of goodness itself.

Identity and Appearance

The old man Ely is small and bent, carrying an old army rucksack with a blanket roll tied across the top and tapping along with a peeled stick for a cane. He has a filthy towel tied under his jaw as if he suffers from toothache, and even by the new world standards he smells terrible. He has no shoes at all; his feet are wrapped in rags and cardboard tied with green twine, and any number of layers of vile clothing show through the tears and holes in it. He is nearly blind, telling the boy, "I cant see good." When asked his age, he claims to be ninety, but when the man says, "No you're not," Ely simply replies, "Okay." He admits this lie is a tactic: "So they wont hurt you." When asked if that works, he answers, "No." He gives his name as Ely, but when pressed, he admits that is not his real name. He refuses to give his true name, saying, "I couldnt trust you with it. To do something with it. I dont want anybody talking about me."

Encounter and Interaction

The man and the boy first see Ely as a small figure distant on the road, bent and shuffling. The man suspects a decoy, but they overtake him. When Ely sees them, he veers to the side of the road and turns warily, insisting he has nothing. The boy squats and puts a hand on his shoulder, saying, "He's scared, Papa." The man, wary of an ambush, mutters, "If this is an ambush he goes first." The boy convinces his father to give Ely food, and the man opens a tin of fruit cocktail. The boy hands it to Ely, who takes it with "scrawny claws" and drinks the juice, which runs down his filthy beard. The boy immediately asks if they can keep him, but the man says no. They stop for the night, build a fire, and share a meal of beef stew and coffee. Ely eats with his spoon gripped like a child, sitting like "a starved and threadbare buddha, staring into the coals."

Philosophy and Beliefs

Ely is a thoroughgoing nihilist. He says he always believed the end was coming: "This or something like it. I always believed in it." He did not try to prepare, explaining, "People were always getting ready for tomorrow. I didnt believe in that. Tomorrow wasnt getting ready for them." He tells the man, "There is no God and we are his prophets." When the man suggests the boy might be a god, Ely shakes his head: "I'm past all that now. Have been for years. Where men cant live gods fare no better." He adds, "It's better to be alone. So I hope that's not true what you said because to be on the road with the last god would be a terrible thing." He believes things will be better when everybody is gone: "When we're all gone at last then there'll be nobody here but death and his days will be numbered too." He refuses to wish the man and boy luck, saying, "I dont know what that would mean. What luck would look like."

The Boy's Compassion and the Man's Pragmatism

The boy's compassion for Ely is immediate and intense, while the man remains pragmatic and suspicious. The boy wants to give Ely more food, to cook for him, to let him travel with them. The man repeatedly says no, but the boy persists, and the man eventually relents for one night. The next morning, the boy argues with his father about what to give Ely. The man gives him some cans of vegetables and fruit, but the boy is dissatisfied and goes to sit in the ashes by the side of the road. The man tells Ely, "You should thank him, you know. I wouldnt have given you anything." Ely asks why the boy did it, and the man replies, "Maybe he believes in God." Ely says, "He'll get over it," and the man answers, "No he wont." As they leave, the boy never looks back at Ely, who dwindles on the road behind them "like some storybook peddler from an antique time, dark and bent and spider thin and soon to vanish forever." Later, the boy tells his father, "You shouldnt make fun of him," and the man acknowledges, "He's going to die." The boy's compassion for Ely, and his father's refusal to fully share it, becomes a central moral tension in their journey.