The coast is the ultimate goal of the journey for the Man
and his son, where the road is supposed to lead them. It's not completely clear why
getting to the coast is of such paramount importance literally, except the Man briefly
mentions following the coast south to try and find others like
them.
I would say the ocean represents beauty and hope to
both of them. The last beautiful thing the Man can remember, perhaps, and something the
boy has never seen. To reach it is to make it out of the cannibalistic nightmare of
tragedy and holocaust they have survived thus far.
It could
also be that the coast is simply a destination, any destination that is not here, not
now, and therefore must be better. McCarthy pretty perfectly illustrates the death of
hope when the ocean is not beautiful at all, and the Man ultimately dies
there.
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