America’s Future as a Wasteland in Cormac McCarthy’s &amp;lt;i&amp;gt;The Road&amp;lt;/i&amp;gt; (2007)

Radwan Gabr El-Sobky

doi:10.11648/j.cls.20200604.11

Abstract

Cormac McCarthy’s The Road presents an awesome future vision of America as a wasteland. It predicts the American nightmare in the future. There is unknown catastrophe has ruined the earth and destroyed human civilization. McCarthy believes that human beings are constantly aware of the influence of nature on their lives in the form of the air they breathe, the water they drink and the food they eat. Ecocriticism is an appropriate critical approach to The Road because there is a strong presence of nature and environment throughout his work; and because of the great influence of nature and environment on the thoughts and actions of the characters. All over the scenes of the novel from the very beginning till the end, the terrifying atmosphere dominates the events. McCarthy focuses only on the enmity of nature for human beings by looking at the negative side. He chooses to talk about American nightmare instead of American dream. He seems to warn the Americans not to feel safe all the time depending on what is called the American Dream which can be changed to American nightmare.

Highlights

Cormac McCarthy is a contemporary American novelist whose novels often bear violent and relentless visions about mysterious parts of humanity
The unnamed father and son live a real nightmare through settings like a wasteland
This paper attempts to answer some questions such as: How are nature and environment represented in McCarthy’s The Road? How to offer an ecological interpretation of McCarthy’s The Road? What role does the physicalgeographical setting play in the structure of the novel? Where are nature and environment placed in the power hierarchy of the events of the novel? How are the issues of environmental disasters and crises reflected in the novel? What about the relationship between nature and environment and the characters of McCarthy’s The Road? How difficult or easy is it to imagine McCarthy’s nightmare vision happening? What does The Road suggest about McCarthy’s awesome future vision of America as a wasteland?

Summary

Introduction

Cormac McCarthy is a contemporary American novelist whose novels often bear violent and relentless visions about mysterious parts of humanity. Most of his novels delineate the relationship of man to nature and environment; and how far both affect man negatively. He is often preoccupied with uncovering the hidden nature of the universe. This paper discusses Cormac McCarthy’s awesome future vision of America as a wasteland in his novel, The Road in terms of the theory of ecocriticism. The unnamed father and son live a real nightmare through settings like a wasteland

The Questions of the Research

Conclusion