Any conventional narrative will employ concepts of society improving and civilisation progressing into the future. The linear cause and effect style of narrative was hushed by the dawn of the post WWII atomic age which saw the birth of post-modernism. Cormac McCarthy's the road is one fruit of this new-age style of writing in a sense that it draws the end of humanity. Cormac McCarthy arouses concerns for humanity by questioning our future whilst utilizing narrative techniques to mould our perceptions of the world.
The novel is a pastiche in the sense that it is a mixture of various forms of narrative. In some cases the novel can be viewed as a fable or parable as it deals with issues of morality. The novel is a post modern work as McCarthy creates a depleted world to infer a future that may happen as a result of destructive human activities, the earth is destroyed by what appears to be a nuclear disaster. Incorporation of this knowledge of technology and its relevance to current events occurring in the present world creates a science fiction aspect to the novel, and becomes All the more alarming to the reader. The novel is a warning for humanity by questioning our future which makes it post modern.
“The clocks stopped at 1.17. A long sheer of light and then a series of low concussions” The novel is set in a world victim to the destructive activities of humankind. A post-apocalypse America, The setting of the novel in America, which used to be the most prosperous nation on earth, strengthens the significance that the world has ended. It was a capital nation, centre of language and technological advancement and its destruction represents the fall of all civilization.
The scene in the text where the Father & Son find a vending machine states a profound comment on American society. “Coins everywhere in the ash.” McCarthy refers to the uselessness of currency succeeding the fall of man; he critiques the worlds Americanism and questions their way of life...