Post-Apocalyptic interpretations

Marauding gangs of bandits.


"An army in tennis shoes, tramping. Carrying three-foot lengths of pipe with leather wrappings. [. . .] The phalanx following carried spears or lances tasseled with ribbons, the long blades hammered out of trucksprings in some crude forge upcountry. [. . .] Behind them came wagons drawn by slaves in harness and piled with goods of war and after that the women, perhaps a dozen in number, some of them pregnant, and lastly a supplementary consort of catamites illcothed against the cold and fitted in dogcollars and yoked each to each. All passed on. They lay listening."




There is a constant recurring theme of the fear and horror of bandit gangs. The man and the boy spot a tennis shoe army walking down the road, the boys fearful reaction emphasises the danger that the man and boy face. The tennis shoe army reinforce the claims of the woman that "they will rape me. They will rape him", as the pregnant women will have been raped, possibly in order to provide a source of food with the babies that are born - as seen with the baby on the spit.




Another area where the theme of bandits is present is when the man and boy stumble across a cellar that is reminiscent of a low culture B movie, filled with naked human bodies that have been amputated for food. This explicitly reveals the descent of society as somehow it has become acceptable to farm humans for food. The descent is also shown as the man and boy seem to have a relatively tame reaction to this discovery in comparison to how a human that lives in the pre-apocalyptic world would have. The man utters "Jesus" an then calls out "Christ...Oh Christ" and proceeds to shush his crying son. For any reader this section is deeply disturbing yet the man and boy almost accept the behaviour as part of their day to day life.










Fall of Civilisation


Cannibalism, rape and paedophilia have all become justifiable in this post-apocalyptic world. In a regular, fully functioning civilisation these acts carry lengthy prison sentences and in some areas even death penalties. Yet, McCarthy manages to manufacture a world in which these acts are accepted as part of a regular monotonous routine that occurs daily. McCarthy may have been able to create this world by removing all names of characters, these nameless people are dehumanised and separated from the compassionate world in which the reader resides which manages to permit these acts without punishment or retribution.


Ely's character is the only character that is given a name, his religious statements combined with the prevailing human qualities evoked in the boy provide the reader with a glimmer of hope and a sense that a higher power will intervene and the boy will be okay. Ely, despite his disregard for the bible and firm statements denouncing God, brings about a quality in the boy that makes it clear for the reader to see that the boy truly is one of if not the "good guys" among a tarnished world where civilisation has fallen and all hope has been eroded.


Humanity has always imagined its own destruction. These catastrophic fantasies are a good barometer of what is currently troubling us.


The Bible is a good indication of the thoughts of those who lived BCE. One of the final books in the bible is the book of revelations , revelation 8 speaks of 7 angels with 7 trumpets and when these trumpets are sounded
"A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.....A third of the sea turned into blood, ⁹ a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed". 
This book speaks of the end of the world and how the people of that time perceived that it would happen.
Further in the book it says that "people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them", This strikes as being extremely similar and almost a complete parallel to the desires of the characters in the road. The man wishes to die yet the boy has to lead him to death, death eludes him. The woman likens death to a "lover" and says death can give her what the man cannot, death eludes her so she has to commit suicide. The people discovered in the cellar would surely desire to die yet they are used as food, amputated and cut apart yet still death eludes them. In a way this book could be read as an embodiment of the book of revelations as everything is burned as if Satan had burned the land.


Films throughout history have echoed the troubles and feelings of society. In the 1960s there were mainly zombie movies. This echoed the fears put in place by the possible and very real threat of a nuclear war resulting from the American and Soviet Union Cold War. The 1980s saw a rise in low culture movies centred around madmen and psychopaths this echo's the development of anti psychotic drugs. Currently in most modern films there's always a pressing threat of terrorism and the destruction of the whole world as a result of the heightened tensions. These influences can be seen in 'The Road' as McCarthy directly imitates scenes from these low culture B movies such as Dawn of the Dead, The Hills Have Eyes and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. These ideas are intergrated into the road such as the amputations, the cannibal element and the cellar full of trapped farmed people. This shows that 'The Road' could be an imagination of the destruction of society and further emphasises its post-modern genre by merging multiple ideas and elements of destruction together.