Symbolism in the Road

In McCarthys book, The Road, McCarthy is able to illustrate not only(prenominal) the setting of the book, but feelings, expressions, and actions, by various literary devices. Although he brought into b emerge several devices such as imagery, tone, metaphors, and a couple of similes, the most squ be would reach to be attribute. Symbolism is when the author single-valued functions an object or bring up to add deeper meaning to a story. The author may constantly use the same object to express deeper meaning.Symbolism is similarly often employ to support a literary theme in a discriminating earthner, which in this slip-up is what McCarthy did. An example of symbolism, and the most noteworthy would contribute to be the route. Just like that, the plain highway. McCarthy refers to the road on several instances, frankincense making it imperative to the reinvigorated. The road symbolizes hope, as well as courage. The road means that for them it is the only hope of surviving. H ope that when they get to the end of that road they allow for be safe in a safe place.It also represents courage because they have the bravery of going on without knowing anything almost the road, courage of going into the unknow. Not knowing what awaits them. An opposite example of symbolism is when the man tells the male electric shaver that he they are the only ones carrying the fire. In this reference the man refers to fire as existence a symbol of them being the only ones left who have feelings in the sphere, who have a conscience, who inactive hold true to things that make us human, like empathy, hope, love and the will to survive without sacrificing your beliefs, things some another(prenominal) people in this wise world have lost.Compared to the others, the bad guys, The man and his son dont kill, they dont steal from the life-time, they help where its possible to do so, and, most significantly in the overbolds symbolism, they dont eat other people, which can dif fer you from good and bad. Another example of symbolism is the mirror. The man and the male child went into a house and as they turned around a corner there was a mirror, and as the man saw his disapproval he instantly reached for his gun, thinking it was someone else.In this case the mirror symbolizes what the man has turned into. It represents and supports the theme of survival present trough out the novel, what they have to be in order to survive in this rude(a) world. In another scene the man and the boy come crosswise a river, which symbolizes after death, or the gateway to the afterlife. This symbol goes in quite a little with the quote the grass is greener on the other facial expression, it is like if they are on the wrong side of it, like if they go to the other side everything would be better, and prettier.Therefore, the sea stands for the other life, the one you get when youre dead, which in the case of the man and the boy would be best for them since the life they a re walk of life dead, they are living a pitiable life. The boy himself is also a machinate of symbolism. The boy exemplifies innocence he demonstrates that there still is ingenuousness in the world. He is always looking for the goodness of people. Throughout the novel they run into different people, he always wanted them to come on with his dad and him, and he was always ordain to help them no return if they are good or bad. In a certain date the boy is willing to sacrifice himself to help the man they ran into. He was willing to give him his food and not eat himself so the man could eat. A further example that goes hand-in-hand with the boys innocence would be his good-will. In this case kindness stands for his vulnerability. Since in McCarthys post-apocalyptic world, the line between kindness and vulnerability is very fine. Thanks to his father though, the boy survives, and keeps focused. His father serves as a realistic intermediary between the boy and ideal goodness.The boys hair being described as a well-fixed chalice, stands for the boy sometimes being like a divine child who can inspire the man to goodness. The golden chalice makes the boy count angelical. The boys gentle nature provides us, readers, with hope for the future. Though he has only known this wild, post-apocalyptic world, hes still full of kindness and innocence. Speaking of the boy another symbol about him is the yellow truck. This yellow truck represented the boys youth, and his childhood, despite the fact that they live in a world where he could not be a child.In this world he was not able to live his infancy like any other child, and when he played with this truck, it was like if one saw another side of him, like if we were able to see the child that lives within him. Cannibalism is another form of symbolism that represents what the world has come to, what mankind has turned into. It symbolizes the end of civilization, and that at long last there will be no human in this new w orld due to it. Cannibalism also forms a major part of the novel since it can differentiate the man, and the boy from the good, or bad guys.However, when you are living in a world like the one in the novel, if you are a cannibal is it being a bad guy, or is it youre survival instincts coming into play? Does it make you a bad soulfulness to want to live? Due to symbolism along with the help of other literary elements McCarthy brings to life a world that no one else could have ever imagined possible. There are so many books and films that try to introduce the end of the world, but no other has done so as Cormac McCarthy has.