Symbols & Metaphors

Water, Cleaning and Washing

• Cleanliness, washing away the worlds horrors, water could link to the boy being baptizied, drowning,
• Takes place a few times and these are when the father cleans the boy, the last time is in the bunker as this is the last time that they are safe.

The Sea

• Hope, saftey, food, water, blue, grey, dead fish,
• Throughout the book the sea is the place where man and boy are trying to get to when they get there they are dissapointed as the sea is just like everything else in the world.

The Colour Grey (Gray)

• Surroundings, everything, mirrors the value of people in the world, everything is grey other than the fathers memorys e.g. the memory of him and his wife in the theatre as the place is described as golden.

Ash

• Constant, covers everything, reminder of death

could be the ash of people for all things when burnt turn to ash, giving the lives of the boy and man trudging through human ash a bit more of an omnious feel.

Fire

• Heat, burn, destruction, death, hope, spirit, the two characters "carry the fire" but that is never truly defined as to what it is, could it be hope, strength, being a good guy? or could it really be something more sinister, like a weapon or chip embeded in them which could cause more distruction?
  
• Sight/sightlessness
  - the future, looking over the see there is nothing to be seen other than skeletons on the beach and a crashed boat, when the father shoots a flare into the sky they can see nothing, this is the point where the two realise there is no help, no sympathy in the world other than theirs.

Seeds

• Music/musical instruments - showing that there is still some beauty in the world, the father makes the boy an instument which he later throws away, music is shown to be the same as inocence, the boy becomes an adult thus losing that inocence and nolonger needing the music
• Rebirth, food, hope, the seeds being eaten by the man and boy are symbolic of nations taking things before they are ready, that things are not given time to establish and so are destroyed. they could also symbolise the fact that potential is still in the earth to reawaken from this death or sleep.

Animal Imagery

Imaginary, skeltons are found but nowhere in the book are there animals shown, they could either all be dead or in some other far off country, the boy however constantly wonders where any animals are.


Religious Imagery 

Hope for the father and son, anti-prophet Ely, the boy calls himself "the one" and his father asks Ely if he would believe that his son was a god.
The Coca Cola Can

How things used to be, the sweet in a sour world a very important symbol of american culture, a symbol of national unity in the second world war and the spirit of america in the present times.