Marxist Criticism Of Cormac Mccarthy The Road

Post-Apocalyptic Hierarchies: A Marxist Criticism of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road The storm of post-apocalyptic novels has taken much of the literary world by storm in the past century or so. This does not stop just there, of course, it branches so far into other media that the storyline of a human life following the collapse of the world as we know it is not at all an unfamiliar one. Movies, video games, and the traditional books have all taken their own look at this interesting offshoot of (science) fiction and have morphed new concepts and perspectives from this one single origin. One such work that exemplifies this is Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. With the story lie plain meanings of a society that mirrors our own today. Such is the examination
A man, in post-apocalyptic, nuclear winter North America, is hoping to lead his son toward the sea in search of a warmer climate. On the way, they overcome and reach a number of moral dilemmas that test their resolve and will to survive. They encounter hungry cannibals that, with their superior technology (in having a working, fueled truck), threaten to hunt them down as we would to animals; lowly hermits and thieves, and even a family who just wants to help. The man dies near the end, leaving his son to fight against the ravaged world on his own.
It’s a story that has brought much praise from the literary world since its publication in 2006, garnering numerous awards and even spawning a well-received book-to-movie adaptation (a rare sight these days to be sure). However, to look at the text objectively, behind the wall of fanfare, one can make deductions on how this world of The Road represents its grim future. And, much unlike many other post-apocalyptic adaptations, it retains key elements of the modern society we view today, no doubt contributing to its
On the mattress lay a man with his legs gone to the hip and the stumps of them black and and burnt. The smell was hideous,” (McCarthy, 110).

One would think that these conditions should be sane, if the man should have been under a locked hatch at all. However, the cannibals, ever interested in their own well being at the expense of others, have no problem with with this madness continuing forward as longer as it ensures their continued survival as the master class.
Perhaps even more telling than this moment when the protagonists discover the dejected people is their chase sequence following and subsequent hiding. The stockpiles of meat for the cannibals are plentiful, and it is rather unlikely that adding more of the same to that would do much better for their situation, with what the supplies keeping a live food source breathing requires. Instead, this entire hunt is more of sport than anything. This is also supported by the apparent lax and calculated nature that the hunters pursue; they are in no rush, no hurry because there is no reason to.

“He could hear them in the road talking. Voice of a woman. Then he heard them in the dry leaves,” (McCarthy,