Symbols and Metaphors

Water, cleaning and washing

Clinging onto their civilisation – need for hygiene, keeping them human. Water is constantly important, the need for survival. Trying to get rid of the signs of death, and the bad things in their world, what they are becoming “I was dead man’s brains out of his hair.” The beach: they are surrounded by the water but cannot drink it – been tainted like everything else in their world.

The mountain

Nature is still standing strong, won’t be moved. Not everything dies. It is a constant.

The sea

At first it represents their hope, it is their endgame and their ultimate goal. It is the only thing driving them forward and keeping them going. But when they actually get there, and they are faced with the reality of it, it shows how their hope has died with everything else. It shows that death touches everything and their disappointment.

The colour grey (gray American spelling) Ash 

Symbolises the decay and death of the world, the ashes could also be seen as a symbol of cremation, the burning of the dead. Grey is dismay and dull, all of the colour had been taken out of the world. The lines between right and wrong (“good guys” and “bad guys”) is blurred, there is black and white, only grey.

Fire

It could represent destruction, but in the book it has quite a positive symbol. Hope and light. “carry the fire” hope for something better, hope to stay human. Their light inside of them, the man always says that the boy is the one who carries it. He is the only one who is truly a “good guy” the man has darkness in him, the world has tainted him. The boy has a pure fire inside him.

Sight/sightlessness

Not being able to see forwards, there is nothing to see. Turning away and hiding the boy from the terrible sights, not wanting him to see it. Need their sight to survive. The man is constantly checking behind him, seeing if there is anything behind them. Sight decays as you grow older, nearing death “cold glaucoma dimming away the world.”

Seeds

Rebirth, hope for more growth, sustenance and food. Cannot grow as the world has no nutrients but the hope is still there.

Music/musical instruments Animal imagery

Music used to bring happiness and joy, a symbol of the civilisation they used to have, clinging on to the past. Hope for the future, if they still can play and enjoy music they are still human to some degree.

Religious imagery

Ely, false prophet. Washing the boy in the river, cleaning his face and head – like the baptism of Christ. The boy is the saviour. “godless”. Abandoned by faith.

The Coca Cola can 

Simple pleasures, shows how much they have lost. To us a can of coke is a given, there is no thought. But to them it is a massive thing and a huge treat for the boy. Also sharing and drinking together shows their bond.

Critical Views on the End

1.       ‘Not with a bang, but a whimper.’ (T.S. Eliot) The man dies, the boy is safe.

The quote is from the poem “The Hollow Men” and the rest of the stanza it is taken from is the repetition of the line “This is the way the world ends”. I agree with idea of the simplicity and the understated way the world (and the novel) ends, but I don’t know whether or not it is true that the boy is safe.

2.       Amazon reader review

I really agree with this review, although the idea that there are unanswered questions is a key part of the film. If you knew everything about the characters you wouldn’t get a sense of emotional distance, you would be able to relate to the characters. The fact that you can’t relate to the characters due to the lack of connection is what makes the novel seem unrealistic and distant, an aspect of a post-modern novel. [?] The idea that it is timeless is also accurate in my opinion; you can pick the book up at any point and not feel as though you have missed anything as it is monotonous and unchanging.

3.       http://markrossiter.info/

I like this review as it touched on the issue you I had with the ending. While it was good that the boy found what is presumed to be a family of “good guys” to take him in, it was completely out of the blue and just did not seem like it fit with the story. The “redemption” of the boy implies that everything has turned out for the best and he will be okay in the end which is inconsistent with the way McCarthy has presented the world as hopeless and good things do not happen no matter what.

4.       William Kennedy, New York Times

I agree with the family being a use of 'deus ex machina' and is kind of a ‘cop out’ it is a solution to the boy’s problem that has no attached questions. This review helps to explain more about the deeper meaning of the ending, and helps me understand what McCarthy might have been hoping to achieve with the addition of the new family.

5.       Amazon reader review(2)

I think the hope that the reader sees through the ending is subjective, I don’t automatically think that the family will bring good things for the boy. The whole way through the novel the man tells of how they have to avoid other people, and whenever we see another person they are always one of the “bad guys”. There has to be a reason why this is, and way the boy should be wary of his new family, they have given no reason for us to trust them.

6.       Guardian commenter on Comment is Free

I agree with the fact the ending can be viewed as a “cop out” it was went against what the book was about, the hopelessness and despair of the situation they are in. throughout we are set up for the fact it can only end in death, and instead we get a solution that comes out of nowhere allowing the boy to have a happily ever after (as much as a post-apocalyptic world would allow) with his nuclear family.

7.       John Holt, California Literary Review

Agree with the quote “timeless” it’s simplistic nature and the emphasis on the unchanging world means it’ll be able to read over and over without losing its meaning.

8.       Guardian commenter on Comment is Free (2)

I agree with this review as it is the same thought I had, why would the boy go against everything man had told him throughout and immediately trust these people? In the book you see the boy become less naïve and more aware of the evil, but in the end he forgets all of this and does indeed “revert to his naïve faith in the adult world”

The woman has a powerful and ambiguous symbolic function in the novel: she represents both the giving of life and the temptation of death.

As well as the woman falling for the temptation of death, she can also be viewed as the temptation for the man. On page 17 the man refers to his dreams as “siren worlds” and this is directly after he dreams of the woman in her wedding dress. Sirens in mythology are depicted as women that tempt sailors to their death; they are the destruction of men that use their beauty as a tool to tempt them, and in this way are very similar to the woman. She is his own personal siren; whenever he dreams of her he dreams of her in a very sexualised way as he is always thinking about her beauty and her body. There is very little mentioned in terms of her personality, it is a usually physical description.

Many times during the novel, the man tells the boy of the temptation you can find in their dreams and how if your dreams are good then you are living in the nightmare. The man often dreams of beautiful worlds and his memories of the woman. It is a juxtaposition between the happiness of his own memories and the nightmare they are living in. His dreams make the real world seem even worse because he is constantly reminded of how good things used to be in the past, and how good things are in his dreams. The thought of this phantom happiness is constantly taunting him, and tempting him to leave this deathly world and join his wife.

As well as this, the woman is also representative of the giving of life. In one of the man’s flashbacks, he remembers when the apocalypse happens, and in this scene the woman is pregnant with the boy she is “cradling her belly.”  She is shown as a naïve and weak in this scene, reliant on the man because of this. Her naivety is shown when she asks the man why he is “taking a bath.” Women are symbolic of reproduction and life bringing, and so is she in this scene. Before the death and darkness of the apocalypse corrupts her, she is a bringer of life. The apocalypse changes how she is perceived by the man, as she changes from the symbol of life and purity to the more dominant person in the relationship and is eventually tempted by death.