The Road Case

Destruction, survival, isolation, and death are prominent themes in "The Road". The life as we

know, no longer exits. Walking south towards the hopeless future, on a burned road, there is

nothing left by the cataclysmic event. The fire has covered the world in ashes and killed almost

every living thing except the most resilient and resourceful of survivors. At the same time, "the fire" is also the key of survival; it warms the man and the boy in the coldest nights, and it illuminates the road of their unknown destiny. "The fire" is something that keeps us all moving in our lives. It makes us morally conscious of choosing between what is right or wrong. For example, the man kills a bad guy to save the boy even though it's morally questionable. The man knew that if he did not kill the bad guy, he would have killed both of them. The man reassures the boy that even though they killed the bad guy, they still "carry the fire" because they are the good guys. Without "the fire" people give up the hope of something better and they won't be able to find their path in their lives. In "The Plague" Reiux never gave up the hope for a fresh start and to be able to stay alive and help the people who need him. In the dangerous and godless world that has been sent to a primitive age, the man gave his son "the fire" to carry on in life. The fire is the metaphor of knowledge that the man gave to his son. The man gives the boy knowledge of how to elevate from their primitive state. For example, the man uses his intuition and ability to observe when he found the food in the bunker buried underground. The food helped them to regain their strength to continue south. The boy sees what his father is doing, and he learns from his father one of the techniques for survival. The man gives the boy hope by making him more adaptable to the world they live in. The man shows him survival skills, educates him, and reinforces to him that they are the good guys in a world where goodness has been extinguished. This is the way the man passes "the fire" to his son. The man knows that he has been appointed by God to take care of his son, and the man refuses the choice of death because he believes that the boy is something the world needs if there is any hope of future life. In "The Plague" the people of Oran need someone like Rambert to stay and help them fight the plague. Carrying "the fire" to help people survive is what Rambert and the man did. The man sees the boy carrying "the fire" that represents life. If the darkness is death, then that "fire" is the hope that life will once again emerge from the darkness and develop anew.