The American Nightmare:America’s Future as a Wasteland in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road (2007) An Ecocritical Study

Abstract

Cormac McCarthy (1933) 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. He believes that human beings are always aware of the influence of nature on their lives in the form of air, food and drink. But what if human beings lose good provisions of nature? What if nature and environment overturn against man? This paper discusses Cormac McCarthy’s awesome future vision of America as a wasteland in his novel, The Road (2007) in terms of the theory of ecocriticism. McCarthy’s The Road is a dull, terrifying story about the future of America. It tells the story of a father and his son’s journey across a ruined landscape. Some unknown disaster has hit the world and caused destruction and environmental pollution everywhere. All people have died except some remnants of mankind and a very few surviving dogs. The sky is always covered by dust and toxic particles. The weather is very cold and damp. Aspects of civilization have collapsed; the beauty of the natural world has disappeared; and the few human survivors roam the land in daily search for food. The unnamed father and son live a real nightmare through setting like a wasteland.