“If we had a spaceship could we go there?”: The Road’s Critique of Techno- Futurism and Anthropocentrism

Abstract

ABSTRACT Cormac McCarthy’s The Road depicts the journey of an unnamed man and his young son across a devastated American wasteland in a post-apocalyptic world. The spaceship, Mars, other planets and aliens are referred to in this novel. Moreover, it also explicitly refers to the residues of modernisation the father and son come upon on their journey to the south. However, the significance and implications of these references have not been given due attention by extant criticism. Accordingly, this paper argues that the references have many significant implications for us to understand this novel’s denial of the plausibility of fantasies of extraterrestrial colonisation, critique of techno-futurism and anthropocentrism, and call for responsible earth stewardship.