Symbolism
The author incorporates symbolism through the fire to demonstrate the importance of hope. The fire is integrated as a symbol of hope, which is portrayed when the child mentions the fire to the father. For instance, when the father and child have a conversation, the father says, "I said we weren't dying. I didn't say we weren't starving," and then the child says, "But we wouldnt [...] no matter what [...] Because we're the good guys [...] And we're carrying the fire," (McCarthy 129). The father agrees with the child that they will survive this journey because they are "carrying the fire." Despite the harsh conditions and the little chance of living, the father and child have hope of survival with the presence of the fire. The way that they both have hope with the presence of the fire can allow the audience to conclude that the fire symbolizes hope. This representation contributes to the text and characters because without the source of hope from the fire, the father and child may have not had the mentality to make it this far on the journey. This demonstrates how hope can allow people, or humanity, to push and reach for a goal. By representing hope through the fire, McCarthy is able to show the importance of hope in humanity.
Metaphor
The author incorporates a metaphor in the novel to give the reader a better understanding of the conditions of the setting. The father has a flashback to when his wife still was alive. For example, when arguing with the father, the wife states, "We're not survivors. We're the walking dead in a horror film [...] I'd take him with me if it werent for you. You know I would. It's the right thing to do," (McCarthy 55-56). In this memory, the wife explains why living would be pointless in this world. She compares themselves to "the walking dead in a horror film." The "walking dead" often is another name for zombies in horror or apocalyptic film. The wife makes this comparison because they are struggling to scrape by and survive in the harsh and lifeless world, similarly to the way that "the walking dead" are alive but mentally dead on the inside. This comparison allows the reader to conclude that people living in the post-apocalyptic world are "the walking dead," nearly dead on the inside, and that the conditions on the world are too harsh to bare. The metaphor that the wife makes contributes to the novel because in then enables the reader to understand that the wife did not see a point for any of them to continuing living, which hints at her suicide. Her disappearance effects the story because the child is then raised by the father in hopes of survival, and having her there would've impacted the child's development differently. By integrating the use of a metaphor, the author is able to make a comparison to people that allows the reader to better understand the characters and novel.
Simile
McCarthy incorporates a simile to allow the reader to better understand the father and his thoughts. A comparison between losing memories and preserving heat is made when the man is thinking about memories. For instance, the man describes how as the journey progressed, "He'd had this feeling before, beyond the numbness and the dull despair. The world shrinking down about a raw core of parsible entities. The names of things slowly following those things into oblivion. Colors. The name of birds. Things to eat. [...] Drawing down like something trying to preserve heat. The father describes how as time progressed, he began to forget memories and information "like something trying to preserve heat." The author makes this comparison because heat is difficult to preserve without being permanently stored in something. Similarly, memories of things such as "colors," "names of birds," and "things to eat" are disappearing from the man's memory because there is nothing to preserve that memory. This comparison contributes to the reader because it allows the reader to understand how lifeless the world is due to how the father is slowly losing his memories of life. By incorporating a simile to compare losing memories to preserving fire, McCarthy is able to give the reader a better understanding of the father and his thoughts.
Theme
The author incorporates the last paragraph in order to demonstrate a theme to the audience. The final sentences of the novel explain how though the world can be brought back to life, due to human destruction, it can never be exactly back to the way it had been. For example, the author describes that, "Once there were brook trout in the streams in the mountains. You can see them standing in the amber current where the white edges of their fins wimpled softly in the flow. They smelled of moss in your hand. Polished and muscular and torsional. On their backs were vermiculate patterns that were maps of the world in its becoming. Maps and mazes. Of a thing which could not be put back. Not be made right again. In the deep glens where they lived all things were older than man and they hummed of mystery," (McCarthy 287). The author writes the setting of the road with lifeless words such as "barren" and "vast" throughout the entire novel, but at the very end, he writes with colorful imagery and life. The author uses words such as "moss," "amber currents," and "trout" to indicate life. By incorporating such a hopeful and lively piece of text after lifeless descriptions, the author is able to allow the reader to conclude that life can be brought back despite the lack of life currently. However, the author writes in past tense, seen when McCarthy writes "Not be made right again", which can indicate how the life described can never go back to its original state. Writing the paragraph in past tense enables the reader to come to the conclusion that the world can never go back to the way it was before human destruction. Through the last paragraph, the author is able to demonstrate this theme to the reader.
Author's Style
The author uses a specific style of writing to enhance the novel and reflect the lifelessness and simplicity of the story. Punctuation such as quotation marks and apostrophes are not used throughout the novel. For instance, the author writes, "He [...] stood in the road and glassed the plain down there where the shape of a city stood in the grayness like a charcoal drawing sketched across the waste. Nothing to see. No smoke. Can i see? the boy asked. Yes. Of course you can. [...] What do you see? the man said. Nothing," (McCarthy 8). When writing the text, conversations specifically, the author does not incorporate the use of quotation marks, commas or apostrophes. This makes the text look a lot more simple or lifeless. Similarly, the world in which the father and child live in is also barren and lifeless. The similarity between the text and the setting of the novel can allow the audience to conclude that the writing style is meant to reflect the world in which the characters live in. Reflecting the setting through style contributes to the novel because the reader gets a better understanding of how barren and lifeless the setting is, and this understanding allows the reader to share the same feeling or mood as the characters. Through the lack of punctuation, the author is able to give the reader a better understanding of the novel.