Carrying The Fire- The Road

Towards the end of the book, as the man is dying and his son accompanies him, they have a conversation that caught my attention. 

"You have to carry the fire.

I don't 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."

234

The fire the man talks about, so passionately, is a symbol of hope, purity and enlightenment. He strongly believes the boy has the fire inside of him, meaning that he is the hope of humanity. The boy who carries the fire represents what is left of good nature, innocence, humbleness and purity. Throughout the novel we see cases where the boy feels the need to help others and is constantly asking for assurance of whether they're still the good guys. The enlightenment theory is derived from greek mythology that represent fire as enlightenment or knowledge. What his father is trying to tell him by "you have to carry the fire... It's inside you", is that he must never give up on his morality, because it's people like him who can save the world, save humanity (McCarthy, 234).