Prometheus, a Titan in ancient Greek mythology, stole the fire from Zeus, the ruler of all Gods, and gave it to humanity, even when Zeus strictly told him not to. As punishment, Prometheus is bound to a rock. Every day, an eagle swoops in to eat his liver, but Prometheus does not die. His liver regenerates only to be eaten again the following day. Because Prometheus “carried the fire” to humanity, his days are forever filled with torture. Similar to the situation that appears in the Cormac McCarthy’s novel, The Road, the main characters, a man and his son also “carry the fire” for the sake of mankind. “Carrying the fire”, a motif that Cormac McCarthy portrays throughout his novel, The Road, can be used to explain the reasoning behind why …show more content…

Oh, she said, I am so glad to see you. She would talk to him sometimes about God. Although God appears only at the end of the novel, God can be seen intervening in the father and son’s life throughout the entire novel. Starving slowing, every time the man and the boy come across the brink of death, an outer force seems to come in and lead them back into the right direction, blessing them with a bountiful number of supplies as well. For example, near the middle of the book where they are near the edge of death by starvation, the man and the boy find “crate upon crate of canned goods” (138) in a bunker that they dug out not so long ago. What are the odds of finding an almost limitless supply of provisions in a world where close to none exist? Either both the man and the boy are extremely lucky, or there is some sort of divine intervention guiding them through their way, which is the more likely option. Another time god and religion is seen through the book is during the aftermath of the gruesome basement scene. After encountering things like “a man with his legs gone to the hip and the stumps of them blackened and burnt” (110), they take refuge in a barn in which the two they find safety. While the boy is resting in the barn, the man searches the barn to find as many foodstuffs as possible. In doing so, he finds “a grape flavored powder to make drinks with” (119), “hard and