The Road

The father and boy from "The Road" live in a post-apocalyptic world where everything is burnt down. Every day, they strive to keep living, to reach the coast. The boy, still innocent in age, can't mentally handle seeing the atrocities of the world. He can't imagine people eating other people to stay alive, and he is devastated when they have to leave the boy and dog behind. All the boy wants is someone else to talk to, but all he has is his father. The father has to stay strong not only for himself, but for the boy as well. He always tells the boy that they are the "good guys", and that they would never resort to such foul means of survival as eating others. The father doesn't have a choice in his own emotions, he has to be the bigger man in this situation. He says his only reason of living is to keep the boy alive. Without the boy, the father wouldn't have the emotional ability to survive thus far, and without the father, the boy would have died off early. Such a duo couldn't exist separately in such a hopeless environment.

Symbolism in Literature

Inanimate Object play a crucial role in literature. Even though these object are just that; objects, they play a great role in the progression of the novel.
In Lord of the Flies, the seashell represents order. In the beginning of the story, everybody grew quiet when Ralph blew the conch. The seashell made the noise that signaled for the children to gather at the gathering point. As the novel progressed, and the democracy Ralph formulated combusted, the children refused to listen to the shell's call. The children grew insane under dictator Jack's rule, and wouldn't be subject to order anymore.
Also in Lord of the flies, Piggy's glasses represented hope. In the story, Piggy's glasses were the only thing the children could use to start a fire. Using the glasses to magnify the sun's heat rays, they could start a fire, which could be used to signal any planes or boats to rescue them. Likewise, throughout the story, Jack ends up breaking Piggy's glasses, one spectacle at a time. As the glasses break, the children begin to lose hope in being rescued, and become subject to Jack's manipulative rule.
Finally, in Othello, the handkerchief plays a significant role in the progression of the story. The handkerchief represents Desdemona's fidelity. Othello refused to become subject to Iago's manipulative tales of Desdemona cheating on him, asking for "ocular" evidence. The handkerchief becomes such evidence, as Iago plants said handkerchief in Cassio's chambers. When Othello sees Cassio with the handkerchief, be finally becomes convinced that Desdemona is cheating on him.