"You Have to Carry the Fire" : The Boy as Christ Figure in The Road

Abstract: In this essay the religious implications of the novel The Road by Cormac McCarthy is examined from the narrator’s point of view. The main character, the father, uses religion to create meaning and faith. The essay looks into what divine character the boy in the novel holds and how the father manages to create this role. The essay pursues the argument that the boy functions as a signifier that takes on various meanings in the text, and especially he takes on a religious meaning for the father, partly as a means to keep hope alive. Also, I will argue that the father’s religious signification of his son ultimately makes the son himself believe that he is divine. The essay demonstrates that the father this way manages to create purpose through his son and the son in return is taught to believe he exists for a higher cause. The religious remarks on the boy’s nature are indirectly taught and ultimately the son becomes divine, at least for the father.