Why Cormac McCarthy's novel is so overwhelmingly apocalyptic?

[Chris]

What are you talking about? Only The Road is "apocalyptic." Have you even read any of his other works?

[[deleted user]]

Life is apocalyptic.

[David]

I don't think that is true; have you read Child of God? It's a novel making a deeply unsettling and horrifying human being sympathetic; the point isn't catastrophe or apocalypse, but rather the essential humanity in all people.

[[deleted user]]

Humanity is a loaded word. To be human, to me, is to be greedy, selfish, a fool. Any "kindness" we are capable of in my eyes is inhuman, or I prefer the term unhuman. Kindess and empathy exists but there is nothing human about it.

This is a world of rape and pedophilia where the few leech from the many. Life is an apocalypse both on an individual level and for our vile species as a whole. But we are good at pretending otherwise.

[rachel ~ trans rights are human rights]

I don't think that's necessarily true, Horrorshow. I think that being human is a lot of the negative--greed, selfishness, perversion--but also a lot of the positive, with kindness and empathy and goodness. It's the humanity in us that struggles between the two.

[[deleted user]]

rachel nicole wrote: "It's the humanity in us that struggles between the two."

"Humanity" doesn't appear to be putting up much of a struggle, rachel nicole. The negatives you spoke of outweight the positives you referred to by some considerable distance. To put it mildly. A struggle implies some kind of contest. Goodness is getting it's rear kicked.

[Léa Touch Book]

I love his novels, he mixed human relationships, the topic of duty and sacrifice. He underlines a very hard world and his writing is very powerful !

[Dave]

Why so overwhelmingly apocalyptic? Because once you face the abyss, you will do everything in your power to avoid "it" from ever happening. Each of us must do his/her part to contribute to the collective good...or not?????????

[Renee E]

Because he grew up in South Knoxville.

As did Quentin Tarantino.

It's a cacotopian cauldron.

[Ramona]

What you stated above is true but did you notice that everything that happens in The Road has already occurred somewhere on the planet in the past! Scary! That's why I see this novel more as a historical work than one about the future.

[Angus]

Smooth thinking Ramona, we already are The Road; it started as homonids slinked toward the Homo sapiens sapiens period. With a fairly fast thinker there was some chance of putting the amazing thoughts of the great sages into action. But somewhere in the mix, old Homo has a chipped gear. Homo sapiens has heard the ideas like non-violence and has no clue of how to make them work. So, the A-type grabbers take over and THEY WILL USE NUKES (The U.S.A. already has) which leave a horrid black rain. Ramona is so spot on---Director John Hillcoat teamed up with Cormac McCarthy, Joe Penhall, Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron and Kodi Smit-McPhee to do a riveting film of the book. WHY DO WE JUST KEEP ON TRUCKIN' WITH THE UGLIES? Is it because Homo sapiens, at that place where the pedal hits the metal, not really as bright as we like to think we are?