Natural and Moral Decay in The Road: Fiction and Film L.E. DuBois (Lisa DuBois) College

Natural decay directly influences moral decay in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road and John Hillcoat’s film adaptation by the same title. The end of the world in this narrative is so severe because of the loss of nature. When humans see the end of their natural environments, something in them is changed; by severing their ties to the natural world, they also subsequently lose their ties to humanity. This is seen in the contrast between the man and boy versus the cannibal gangs. The writing tool of setting is especially important for this topic because McCarthy often describes where the man and boy are based on natural setting. Throughout the novel we read descriptions of gray skies, fallen trees, and dark oceans—all markers of the earth’s decay. Some scholars have called McCarthy’s novel the first to write from an environmentalist perspective; while there have been other post-apocalyptic novels and films prior to The Road, McCarthy’s is one of the first to include decay of the earth as well as decay of humanity.

The sparse dialogue in the novel is perhaps a visual representation of the dying world; just as the earth has been stripped of its beauty and natural elegance so has human conversation. The scarcity on the page visually...