According to Zuckerman, these nations are "probably the least religious countries in the world, and possibly in the history of the world " (2). They are also, it turns out, "among the ˜best' countries in the world, at least according to standard sociological measures " (Zuckerman 4). Perhaps a contributing factor to this correlation is that misery necessitates faith. In the case of the man, his love for his son motivates him to keep going. His problem is that his desire to keep going appears to lack a rational foundation. This is best illustrated by the flashback in which his wife explains her decision to commit suicide: "Sooner or later they will catch us and they will kill us . They are going to rape us and kill us and eat us and you wont face it. You'd rather wait for it to happen. But I cant " (McCarthy 56). After she leaves to kill herself, the man concedes that "she was right. There was no argument " (58). Nevertheless, the man keeps on going despite recognizing, at some level, that the struggle may very well be futile. Because it is in the nature of human beings to desire that the things they do make sense, he grasps for beliefs that will make his struggle make sense. Among these is the belief that he is on a divine mission. It is not that he wants to keep going because he believes that he is on a divine mission. Rather, the desire comes first: because he wants to keep going, he believes "or tries to believe "that he is on a divine mission. At a particularly desperate moment, the man recalls his wife's accusation that he won't face the truth: "He wrapped him in his own parka and wrapped him in the blanket and sat holding him, rocking back and forth. A single round in the revolver. You will not face the truth. You will not " (68).
Perhaps the man recalls his wife's accusation because at that moment, he regrets not following her example. But it is also possible to see the man's thoughts here not as a despairing admission but rather as an exhortation to himself not to face the truth.