McCarthy envisions a post-apocalyptic world in which \"murder was everywhere upo
ID: 3142712 • Letter: M
Question
McCarthy envisions a post-apocalyptic world in which "murder was everywhere upon the land" and the earth would soon be "largely populated by men who would eat your children in front of your eyes" (page 181) How difficult or easy is it to imagine McCarthy's nightmare vision actually happening? Do you think people would likely behave as they do in the novel, under the same circumstances? What do you think McCarthy is saying about humanity in The Road? Does it now seem that human civilization is headed toward such an end? What would you do in a world like this? Would it change your beliefs? What would you hope in?Explanation / Answer
Our society functions because of law enforcement and the belief in morals; all of which can be torn apart when people are starving and no one is there to keep order. I think you would see groups of good people trying to survive and groups, like the book who do whatever it takes to survive.
In a world where no laws exist and survival means free for all, I assume that murder is a first-hand choice and common facet among any survivors. Nothing grows in this world; most organisms besides the few humans aimlessly wandering and bacterial cultures thriving on the bodies have died off from starvation or illness after the catastrophe. Starvation itself is a practical guarantee and logically the blood cults have comprised a foul attempt to survive another day by taking another man's life. It may be a sick way to go about overcoming starvation but we can tell that these cannibals are nowhere near hungry.
That being said, it is easy to imagine a world of murderers and thieves. We already live in our own dangerous world where psychopathic people kill for fun and consumption and steal goods for the sake of their own being. In other words, this nightmare which Cormac envisions already exists. The question we face is if anyone would care about morality in contrast to cannibalism as a last resort. Would we kill and consume our fellow man if we were dying of hunger? In a better sense I believe people like the boy would hold onto humanity as long as they could.
A wise man once said, "You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain."
Desperation calls for desperate measures. What happens when there isn't a single scrap of food left? When all the clean water has gone dry? Would people resort to murdering their brothers at the cost of their sanity? My answer would absolutely be no.
The population that survives would reek and rot in disease and filth. In The Road, the man is dying of illness and his boy may starve sooner or later. When the man dies it will mean one less man to walk the earth and one more body lying amongst foundations. Earlier in the book the man says that sooner or later every tree will fall. It may have context to foreshadow his own death and the death of his boy when old age and illness claims him too. It may also refer to the complete annihilation of the human race, a gradual but process that will occur at some point in time.