Firstly, some scholars analyze the novel from the perspective of life’s meaning。 Thomas H。 Schaub believes that the quest for the meaning of life has always been an important subject in human history and culture。 The Road, however, is unique in exploring this meaning on the basis of a father’s love for his son (Schaub, 2009)。 James Corby points out that the imagery of fire in the book undoubtedly represents human spirits。 The meaning of life in this novel is reflected by father and the son who have always been “carrying the fire”。 It is the fear that what has befallen the cannibals will eventually befallen all human beings that keeps haunting people。 Thus the future of the father and the son depends on whether the boy can stick to his own humanity while also be able to negotiate with the dehumanized world (Corby, 2014)。 

Secondly, the utopia and dystopia feature of the novel draw critic’s attention。 It is believed by Søfting that the natural physical world in The Road contains a strong dystopia element, while the psychological inner world of the father and the son contains a utopian element。 This contradiction derives from the fact that McCarthy believes good literature deals with issues of life and death。 After analyzing the relationship between virtues and vices, hope and despair, Søfting claims that the life and death problem reflected in The Road not only refers to the life and death of an inpidual, but also the life and death of humanity (Søfting, 2013)。 文献综述

Thirdly, from the point of ecological criticism, Hannah Stark defines The Road as a climate fiction since the McCarthy chooses human to be the witness of the destruction of the world, revealing the fact that human-induced climate change is the consequence of anthropocentricism (Stark, 2013)。 

At the same time, domestic scholars also pay much attention to Cormac McCarthy’s masterpiece The Road。 

Firstly, Hu Shuiqin believes that The Road reveals the fact that the development of modern society brings ecological crisis to human as well as the whole civilization。 Telling people to reflect on their production mode and development patterns, Hu suggests to build an equal, harmonious and non-anthropocentrism ecological consciousness (Hu, 2010)。 From the sharp contrast between the original colorful world and the desperate grey world depicted in the novel, Yang Pei realizes that human beings are pushing themselves to the edge in the process of conquering nature with their high-technology (Yang, 2011)。 The Road criticizes the severe environmental problems caused by modern industrial civilization (Shen, 2013)。