Why is carrying the fire in Cormac McCarthy's novel The Road so significant?

In Cormac McCarth's novel The Road, I
believe that carrying the fire, while it may refer literally to fire, also may refer to
the "keepers of the fire," those who historically were able to survive because they had
the means to make or carry fire; the carrying of the fire is a
metaphor.

Fire was historically used for many things: the
first most important uses would have been to keep warm and keep wild animals away. As
people advanced and were more sophisticated, fire not only cooked food, but enabled
people to work with natural materials to make weapons, crockery and try new
foods.

The true success of early man with regard to fire
was not just to be able to collect it and protect it when it occurred naturally, say
from a lightning strike, but to use materials that would create fire whenever they
wanted it. These were the people that survived, procreated, and moved on to populate new
areas.

When I think of fire in this book, I see the father
and son as "good guys" (as they call themselves): survivors who want not just to get by,
but start a new life. They keep the ideals of the old society, the concept of civilized
behavior, alive, while other members of society have turned to violence and
cannibalism.

This sense of maintaining the course of
civilization is seen with the father speaking to his son about surviving, but in an
honorable way.

readability="7">

Are we still the good guys? he
said.

Yes. We’re still the good
guys.

And we always will
be.

Yes. We always will
be.

Fire can destroy, as seen
with the results of the apocolyptic fallout of the world's destruction. Fire can be
referred to when they build a fire and stay close for warmth during the cold brought on
by the nuclear winter. However, figuratively, I believe "fire" refers to carrying on the
age-old goal of survival by man, and doing what they can to rebuild the world in a
positive way, not by hurting others and stealing from
them.

Acknowledgement of fire tied to goodness is seen in
the quote:

readability="5">

"We're the good guys...and we're carrying the
fire."

This is a new way
seeing life for the father (who has seen the days before the disaster), and something he
passes on to his son (who never knew any world but this one). Even after the father
dies, we can hope that family that takes the son in will continue the father's quest to
find goodness in humanity and rebuild the world. (And based upon the son's desire to
help others, we can be comfortably sure that he will do so.)