In a time when humanity falls into destruction and desolation, hope would become a rare sentiment as fear of death and desperation for survival could easily overtake it. Hope, which is not always referred to directly in literature, is often alluded to through use of symbols. In Cormac McCarthy's, The Road, hope is a recurring theme and is illustrated through the use of symbolism. In this manner, symbolism is the literary device in The Road which conveys the major theme of hope most effectively. Amidst the carnage of a disintegrated society, the protagonists of The Road still manage to hold on to some ideal of hope and desire to survive which is primarily shown through the symbolism of the road, fire, and the boy himself.

In The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, the very title of the novel can serve as a symbol of hope. Although it can also be seen negatively, the protagonists of the novel especially the man come to realise and accept that the world has changed. He realised that "the names of things [were] slowly following those things into oblivion, colors, the names of birds, [and] things to eat" (p.75, McCarthy). Like how the roads they traveled on once symbolized civilisation and development, now, adversely symbolise desolation and the end of society.

They come to roads and choices both physically and mentally (their choices can affect hope or despair, good or evil). "At a crossroads they sat in the dusk and he spread out the pieces of the map in the road and studied them" (p.86) - they use the map of the world that once was and will never be again and begin to realise that they can only move forward now and have hope and faith in the future of civilization. Like the animals they noticed had disappeared, the roads too would lose their meaning they would become something new to the next generation of the new world; near the end of the novel McCarthy muses that maybe there are still trout and that "on their backs were the 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" (p.287). For those that still have hope and have not given up, perhaps they will help restore civilisation, with each moral choice they make between good and bad.

In situations as difficult as these, the protagonists often have to face hardships that bring them consider whether they would be better off dead. To protect his son, whose mother had given up on the world, the man talks about their fire. The boy when at a loss of hope would state that he did not care or that he wished that he was with his "mom" (p.55) - dead. The man tells him that he "musnt say that" (p.55); he tells him that he has to "to carry the fire" (p.278). Although what it actually represents is not directly stated in the novel, the fire is implied to be related to hope and goodness. The man reassures the boy and explains that it is "inside" (p.279) him, "always was there" (p.279), that he can "see it" (p.279) in him.

The protagonists, who are among the few survivors who have refused to exploit other human beings as a means to obtain sustenance, are "carrying the fire" (p.129), because they have not given up and lost faith in their morals - they still have hope which fuels them to find alternatives to cannibalism. Even when they were "starving" (p.129), they would not eat human flesh. The cannibals in the novel, represent the fallen of society and serve as a contrast and foil to foragers such as the man and the boy who are carrying the fire. The boy who is a symbol of hope as well, questions if they are still the "good guys" (p.77) after they do things that are considered bad to him. His father assures him that they are, because "this is what the good guys do - they keep trying - they don't give up" (p.137). Those who carry the fire have not given up hope and need to persevere for the sake of humanity, because if the protagonists decided to eat a "charred human infant" (p.198), if all those remaining on earth resorted killing and eating other human beings, then the human race would die out; no one would be looking out for each other - there would be no love or hope left - there would be no one left to love or live for.

The two of them believe that "nothing bad is going to happen" (p.83) to them because they are "carrying the fire" and in the end of the novel, the man inevitably dies, but the hope continues to live on with the boy who encounters another family who are "carrying the fire" as well (p.284). The boy would continue living for the man, who, when his son was born saw "beyond the window just the gathering cold, the fires on the horizon" (p.59), and never gave up believing that the boy was the hope of the world to come.

In the novel, the man found hope when his son was born and found another reason to live. The boy's mother pointed out "that the boy was all that stood between him and death" (p.29); he believed that he it was his "job is to take care of" him, that he "was appointed to do that by God" (p.65). To the man, this child was the embodiment of hope and salvation - a light in the darkness - because he was goodness. The man compared him to God, who is good, many times saying that he was "the word of God God never spoke" (p.5), that his hair was a "golden chalice, good to house a god" (p.75) and asking 'Ely', "You thought he was an angel? What if I said that he's a god?" (p.172). He saw his son as a symbol of hope in a place where children were hardly ever seen anymore - but he was more than that, they were "each the other's world entire" (p.6) and they kept living through their love.

Through his good will, the boy often brought out the better side of his father, even getting him to give some of their rations to 'Ely'. He questions the good of their actions and though at times this appears to be naivety, his purity was their hope for salvation. When they found the cellar with food and supplies, he even felt guilt over taking the things even if the owners were no longer alive. The man assured him that because they had "carried the fire", "they would want" them to, "just like we would want them to" (p.139). The boy said a prayer for those people telling them, "thank you for all this food and stuff" and that "we wouldn't eat it no matter how hungry we were [if you were here] and we're sorry that you didn't get to eat it and we hope that you're safe in heaven with God" (p.146) which emphasizes the goodness of his nature.

It made the man "sob uncontrollably" while watching the boy sleep because of the "beauty or goodness" (p.129) he saw in him - the beauty and goodness that he not apparent in this devastated world; in this sense the boy continued to bring hope into his father's life, despite being unsure of himself. When his father was dying, he worried and asked him about "that little boy" (p.280), and asking if he was lost and if he would be alright - an allusion to himself and being scared to be without the man. Once again, the man encourages his son and tells him that he will "be alright", that "goodness will find the little boy; it always has; it will again" (p.281).

The man probably would have been less empathetic had the boy not been there; his innocence and kindness often brought out the compassion in his cold father. In the beginning of the novel, the man had a dream where "he'd wakened he had wandered in a cave where the child led him by the hand, their light playing over the wet flowstone walls, like pilgrims in a fable swallowed up and lost among the inward parts of some granitic beast" (p.3) - the child was the boy, who guided him along, and as they walked there was light which like the fire represents hope and goodness so that even in utter desolation, stuck in a beasts stomach or in a world where society has broken down - the boy is still good and still symbolises hope and salvation.

Despite civilisation falling apart in the novel, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, hope and the desire to persevere are revealed through symbolism of the roads, fire and the boy. This is why symbolism is the literary deceive that best conveys the major theme of hope in the novel. Hope which one cannot identify without love and faith is usually referred to through symbolism. Hope, when civilisation lies in ruins, can easily be forgotten between the fight with death and desperation to live, but still remains as the only thing that can begin to rebuild humanity.