The Fire Of Salvation Out Of Doomsday

The Road is McCarthy’s tenth novel that was awarded the2007Pulitzer Prize forFiction. This novel depicts an unnamed father and his young son who travel across agrim post-apocalyptic landscape, some years after a major unexplained cataclysm hasdestroyed civilization and most life on earth. Many of the remaining human survivorshave resorted to cannibalism. In the face of the constant threats of attack, exposureand starvation on their journey, the man repeatedly reassures the boy that they are the“good guys” who are “carrying the fire”.Therefore, bearing in mind “the fire” as a central image in the novel and a keysymbol in the thesis, the author of this thesis would like to analyze The Road from theperspective of existentialism. The typical existentialist ideas such as “absurdity”,“freechoice” are fully reflected in the novel. The five chapters jointly contribute to thecoherence of the thesis. This thesis is intended to interpret how the protagonists makethe best of their freedom of choice and shoulder the responsibility, in order to searchfor the authentic existence and hope in a ruined world.