Symbolism In Mccarthy's The Road

The Road is full of various symbols and images as the online book reviewer Ted Gioia stated in his review "The landscape—always important in setting the atmosphere in McCarthy’s books—hardly more inviting than a battlefield or the dark side of the moon"(Gioia, 2008). The most noticeable symbol would be the "fire" which has a total different meaning than in Miller's novel, the man several times throughout the novel mentions it to his son "You have to carry the fire. I dont know how to. Yes you do. Is it real? The fire? Yes it is. Where is it? I dont know where it is. Yes you do. It's inside you. It was always there. I can see it." (McCarthy 2006, 70). The man has constantly used and told about the idea of "fire" that the good people used to …show more content…
"On the far side of the river valley the road passed through a stark black burn." (McCarthy 2006, 4). It is clear that McCarthy put a lot of effort to describe the road, its appearance and what is close to it "The road beyond ran along the crest of a ridge where the barren woodland fell away on every side. It's snowing, the boy said." (McCarthy 2006, 8). The road itself could also be seen as a symbol of a person's physical and mental state. The post-apocalyptic world is seen as a "dead world" and the author describes it perfectly "The weather lifted and the cold and they came at last into the broad lowland river valley, the pieced farmland still visible, everything dead to the root along the barren bottomlands. The roadside hedges were gone to rows of black and twisted brambles. No sign of life. (McCarthy 2006, 10-11). It is clear that McCarthy wanted readers to visualize and feel the world the characters are living on. In every scene the first thing the author writes about is the environment, such as broken houses, rusty tools, constant rain, and other minor details. Regardless McCarthy describes the post apocalyptic environment to near