In a world that is bleak and grey, the only clear colour is that of fire. Fire takes various meanings and forms throughout the novel but each is equally important to the characters:
“Oil for their little slutlamp to light the long gray dusks, the long gray dawns. You can read me a story, the boy said. Cant you, Papa? Yes, he said, I can.”
Light here represents civilisations. Reading before nighttime is a reference to times past when literature could be enjoyed at leisure. Now, the only things the boy and his father have to focus on are surviving and defending what they have gathered.
The product of fire is also important. Ash is abundant throughout the novel: “The ashes of the late world” (p. 10) reminds the reader of cremation. The old world has died and has been put to rest. The ashes have not been scattered in a memorable place however but cast out all over the new world that carries on regardless. The debris must be kicked around and disturbed, never letting the past in peace.
Fire is also suggestive of pre-history where homosapiens would hunter-gather: “Where all was burnt to ash before them no fires were to be hand and the nights were long and dark and cold beyond anything they’d yet encountered.” (p.13) Fire symbolises human society at its most prehistoric. It was around fires that we first learned to cook and later told stories. Fire separates us from other animals as it demonstrates we were able to manipulate our surroundings to survive conditions initially impossible. With this luxury removed from our world, we are forced to cower from the elements along with all of the other animals.
The father also uses the imagery of fire as a religious-substitute. It is a comfort blanket that he wraps around his son, a fictitious image which for as long as he keeps alive his son will be also: “nothing bad is going to happen to us … because we’re carrying the fire” (p. 87) Returning to the image of fire, fire here offers the son and his father protection. It is a symbol to them of what allows them to keep going and to keep surviving in what should be impossible circumstances.
“We wouldnt ever eat anybody, would we?
No. Of Course not.
Even if we were starving?
We’re starving now.
You said we werent.
I said we werent dying. I didnt say we werent starving.
But we wouldnt.
No. We wouldnt.
No matter what.
No. No matter what.
Because we’re the good guys.
Yes.
And we’re carrying the fire.
And we’re carrying the fire. Yes.” (p. 137)
The above conversation between father and son exemplifies both the son’s fear that they are no better than the abominations of society they run from and also that fire has become their symbol of faith that sees them through a difficult time. By clinging to the imagery of the fire, the son believes that he would not succumb to the horrible act of cannibalism that seems so acceptable to others.
