Cigarettes

I translated the “fire” as hope. I think this book so far has been mostly about hope. For the man and the boy, anytime they encounter hope such as an abandoned trailer or house, they find very little substance and a lot of ash. Ash is the remnant of fire.

The book depicts a world that used to be full of hope and fire, but is now left with despair and ash everywhere.

Keeping the “fire” allows them to not debase themselves and merely become vultures. It pushes them to go south. The vultures that approach them on the road do not have the fire. They do not have faith in the south. They only have faith in remaining and picking off the survivors.

The south is full of uncertainty, and the man fears it is also filled with ash. But because of uncertainty, there is a psychotic hope instilled. It is the same feeling when they walk into a house or gas station. They fear it is filled with only ash, but they know that if they don’t step in, they will never know what they are missing. The south is a giant imaginary house, and if they don’t go, they will never know what they are missing.