This particular exchange between the man and boy contains one of the most crucial concepts in Cormac MacCarthy’s The Road. The concept presented is “the fire”, and since it is constantly mentioned multiple times, it serves as a vital aspect to the understanding of both the man and boy’s mentality, and their various perspectives throughout the novel. This is due to the fact that since the man and boy are struggling to surviving in a chaotic world left in ruin, they feel as if there is no hope for a safely stable life. However, whenever the fire is mentioned in the novel, the man and boy are motivated to survive and are able remain together. As they are traveling on the road, while also seeking survival, the man and boy realize that their actions…show more content… This is because as they travel on the road, they realize that the brutal environment creates hazardous conditions, and that if they interact with the hostile cannibals, they will become threatened. An example of how the natural environment affected both the man and boy’s physical journey, is that it was creating extremely dangerous conditions, such as extreme cold, for the man and boy, causing them to travel south in the first place. “They were moving south. There’d be no surviving another winter here” (4). Another way the environment was menacing to both the man and boy, was the abundance of “bad guys” that constantly threatened their safety. For example, the man shoots a cannibal in order to protect his son, “He dove and grabbed the boy and rolled and came up holding him against his chest with the knife and his throat . . . The man leveled the gun, and fired . . . The man fell back instantly and lay with blood bubbling from the hole in his forehead. The boy was lying in his lap with no expression on his face (66). The reason why the “bad guys” affected the man and boy’s journey in the novel, is because they make the man feel anxious and extra cautious to protect his precious son during their