Post apocalyptic literature

Fall of civilisation

Both the physical and emotional fall of civilisation is evident throughout the novel. The moral decline relates to the scenes of a violent and disturbing nature referred to, such as when the victims of cannibalism are discovered in the abandoned house. One has "legs gone to the hip and the stumps of them blackened and burnt". This suggests that moral code has been completely ignored by some members of society (the "bad guys") now that there's no hope left.

The question of whether morality is an inherent part of being human, or whether it's learnt, is explored. One may assume that if civilisation crumbled, people would be so focused on survival that morality wouldn't matter anymore. However, the boy was born post-apocalypse and exhibits many characteristics relating to having a moral compass, such as knowing the difference between right and wrong by trying to save the thief's life. He is the ray of light in the novel as he didn't experience society's fall first-hand, his innocence is genuine so the reader would root for his survival.

The physical fall of civilisation is indicated through the various descriptions of the decaying landscape. All that surrounds the characters is misery and hopelessness due to the catastrophe. The trees are described as "dead and black" and the days are described as "gray and nameless". This setting implies that something terrible has happened as there's no reason to keep track of dates or times anymore. Society isn't functioning as there's a lack of resources and people must travel the road in order to survive. Civilisation has fallen and those who are left are struggling.


Mythologizing of the past

Elegiac language is utilised by McCarthy to link the past and the present. A sad atmosphere is described due to the effects of the apocalypse, yet there's a celebratory tone as life before the devastation did exist. This is particularly evident at the conclusion of the novel when the brook trout are described as "polished and muscular" with "vermiculate patterns" on their backs. Although the trout aren't there anymore, McCarthy is emphasising that beauty did once exist and can be remembered.

Life pre-apocalypse has become like a myth because it's such a drastic contrast to life post-apocalypse. The cultural past has gone, the only soulful things left come from human memory. This implies that the humans who survived the apocalypse will leave nothing behind. Their deaths will leave a dead and empty world.

In relation to the characters, the boy hasn't been tainted by the events of the past. He sees the innocence in the world so is "carrying the fire". He is a beacon of hope that even though a catastrophe has happened, humanity can carry on with a new society in place. In contrast, the man only sees the horrors surrounding him. His experience of the apocalypse has led to his cynicism and unwillingness to find beauty in this new world.


Humanity has always imagined its own destruction. Each generation believes the end is somewhere round the corner, and our catastrophic fantasies are a good barometer of what’s currently troubling us.

There's evidence of humanity believing some sort of catastrophic event is going to take place dating back for centuries. In recent years, 1970s B-movie horror films have often depicted the destruction of life and moral values, much like The Road. Examples such as "Dawn of the Dead" and "The Hills Have Eyes" indicate the human obsession with the inevitability of death and the possibility of supernatural forces. In The Road, it indicates that the desire to imagine something greater than oneself, in terms of scale, won't end well.

The Road itself is focused on how after the initial apocalypse, society collapsed and destroyed itself. Factions of "good guys" and "bad guys" were formed to display the divide between the moral and immoral. It suggests that if humanity were to be put into this situation, then it's possibly to go one of two ways. McCarthy could be trying to convey that we should be worrying about the human causes of devastation, rather than things that we can't control. If we carry on the way we are, then any chance of redemption will be irretrevable and humanity is doomed.

The term "apocalypse" is derived from the Greek "to uncover". This illustrates the idea that an apocalypse is more about digging into human psychology and how people would actually cope with it, rather than the actual event. This is an integral theme of The Road as we follow the actions of the man and the boy and their ability to survive.