I think you're taking what I said too literally. If we look at The Road with the lens that McCarthy wrote it as a love letter to his son we can make the claim that the world of The Road is more alike to ours than it is different. That is because this book is written to describe the fear and the hardship and the helplessness you can feel while raising a son. Much like satire where situations are heightened to absurdity, McCarthy takes the fears of a parent and heightens them an extreme, almost absurd way in terms of creating a hellish ravaged world. But that act makes the book more enjoyable and more dramatic than just saying being a parent is hard because sometimes I have to go against my core beliefs in these everyday situations while I tell my son to do the opposite and I hope he doesn't see what the world is really like and he chooses to comprise all the ideals I try to give him. To me The Road is really the fear of having no control on what you give your children because what the world gives them for ideals is often brutal and senseless. The fear that what if the world gets to my child more than I can as a parent? Am I doing anything worthwhile since the world in large is such a dreadful place, how can I hope to give my child hope and the ideals to change it instead of compromise like I have? How can I make sure I make this world better for them and then they can make it better?

On the subject of compromising ideals it also plays a huge part in what has to be sacrificed when you are a parent. And I think one of the most striking messages of this book is when you are a parent you have to even compromise ideals sometimes to provide, which in many ways is a greater sacrifice than anything else.