Symbolism In The Crossing By Cormac Mccarthy

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The Circle of Life In the passage of Cormac McCarthy’s Novel The Crossing, the main character realizes that all creatures role in the world transcends their physical life. One’s existence in the world helps regulate an worldly equilibrium – or the circle of life. McCarthy achieves this balance through fire symbolism, repetition of the word “cold”, and Biblical allusions. McCarthy utilizes the dying fire to symbolize the death of the wolf. Like the wolf, “the fire has died” and likewise, his futile attempts “to coax it back and feed [it]”, in essence – save the wolf – fails. The main character is unable to accept the loss of the world and attempts to “hold what cannot be held”. Fire also possesses something that cannot be held or seen, heat.
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