Rawan Alenezi

Prof. Eric Barnhart

ENG113B
October 10, 2015
Implications of The Post-Apocalyptic Anxieties
Naturally, a person who is facing anxiety might pull away from conditions that
have triggered similar feelings in the past. Anxieties are of different types including
existential anxiety which results from facing an existential crisis, angst, and nihilistic
feelings. Other categories of anxiety are test anxiety, stage fright, stage fright, and
somatic anxiety. Stranger anxiety and social anxiety occur when a person is around
strangers (Karam 193). Such anxieties are evident in The Road, and McCarthy illustrates
this in a verbose way. Anxieties in the road are both short term and long term. Unlike
trivial anxieties in the day to day world, those of a post-apocalyptic situation are long
lasting and some never end and require only love and family to heal.

Love As Remedy. The unnamed father in the road takes care of his son with a lot of
love. The young boy and his father love and care for each other all the time to cover for
the anxiety. The author remarks that the boy hangs on to him all the time in fear of the
unknown. The small boy seeks refuge and love from his father. When the father attempts
to leave the boy to go and look for firewood, the boy cries and claim that he is afraid to
be left alone. This depicts the fear he feels, especially if he is left alone. The young boy
keeps clutching on his fathers coat for safety (McCarthy, 2006, p.34). The father carries
the boy across the field, stopping to catch a breath every fifty steps. They wrap
themselves in the same blankets in fear to gather warmth for the cold nights. The father
leans and kisses the on the forehead as a sign of love and fear that he cannot guarantee his
son 100 percent safety (McCarthy, 2006, p.43). Most of the time, he waits until the boy is
fast asleep to go on his errands.

Effects Of Fear. The theme of anxiety is prevalent in our day to day lives. Human beings
have an innate tendency to get worried every time there is uncertainty about the future. It
is usually a feeling of nervousness, worry, and uneasiness typical for an impending
situation or one with an unsure outcome.
It is usually confused with fear but is the response of a person towards a realistic
perception of an immediate danger. It is the expectation of future danger. Most of the
time anxiety is unfocused and generalized and is usually a far-fetched response towards a
situation that is not objectively viewed as menacing (Karam). Most anxious people in the
real world experience fatigue, muscular tensions, concentration issues, and restlessness.
Anxiety is not always harmful and to some extent it is a normal feeling, but the problem
comes in if it is persistent in which case an anxiety disorder might result. In McCarthy's
'The Road', the nights are growing darker everyday. The light of day seems to last forever
before appearing symbolizing perpetual doom. People carry a pistol around for safety. As
the father watches the boy, he feels as if they are being watched, and he asserts that this
place is not entirely safe. Everything was changing from what it was like before and even
life itself seemed uncertain. Everything appeared withered and faded giving the story a
sorrowful mood. The young boy constantly esquires about their impending death and
surprisingly, his father affirms but assures him that it will eventually happen but not just
yet. There is some impending death. He keeps his hand where it can easily grip the pistol
and keeps the boy under constant watch. The city is completely burned, and there are no
more signs of life. Cars and other belongings on the street are covered in ash. From the
reading, this is no place anyone would wish to be at any time. It is a weird, horrible, and
abandoned land. The author is successful in painting a picture of hopelessness and
desperation caused by fear.

Repercussions Of War. Post-apocalypse also has the losing parties cede resources to the

victors. For instance, the territory of Alsace-Lorraine keeps exchanging hands between
Germany and France on various occasions. Anxiety incapacitates people from normal
working. The working population is affected, and economy cannot grow. Apocalypse is
usually related to the economy and most destruction usually are wholly or partially based
on economic reasons like the American Civil War. Some rare cases have had war
stimulate the economy of a state. For instance, America arguably benefited from the
World War II. It pulled America out of the Great Depression. However, most cases of
apocalypse have ugly aftermaths. This is evident from the World War I, Franco-Prussian
War, and Louis XIV wars. These wars served only to destabilize the economies and
socio-political state of the countries involved. According to (Szacka), another example of
the negative aftermath of an apocalypse was Russia, which almost collapsed its economy
after its involvement in the World War I. This collapse let to the commencement of the
1917 Russian Revolution.

Environmental Effects Of War. The natural environment is also not promising. The lakes
in the road are full of twisted stumps, weathered gray windfall trees from a previous
hurricane. The weather is not friendly either. It is very cold, and there are no signs of
changes. The author describes the cold as one that could even crack a stone. From a high
land, one could see the rocks standing out from the ashes. The boy is soon influenced by
the mood of anxiety. He picks crayons and paints a picture of is face-mask with fangs on
it. People wake up to an impenetrable darkness at night. Likewise, the road depicts a
post-apocalypse situation. The situation is brute. McCarthy's carries the reader is in an
air of anxiety. Vegetation is dead and people have turned into man-eaters for survival. A
reader might tend to think that this is the aftermath of world war or some unexpected
calamity. The world is just as dead. War brings destabilization, death and fear that make
people desperate for food and safety. Lack of a system means there is no enforcement,
and everyone is their own law. People witness death until it does not scare them anymore

to kill or get killed. However, love can exist even in such moments

Fear Of The Future. Just like contemporary wars, one wonders what will befall the
victims in a post-apocalyptic times. Similarly, in the road, the fate of the uncle, the boy,
and the rest of the helpless refugees is uncertain. People have no homes, jobs nor stable
incomes. Everyone is under a constant fear of being watched. Will they also burn or die
soon? Will they stay lonely for ever? Will they ever get back to their jobs and farms for a
decent livelihood? Are some of the questions that keep the reader anxious and worried
that something ill and unexpected might befall them. The road shows how refugees suffer
after the war. The boy is so afraid that he always clings onto his Papa wondering if the
footsteps they here are from dangerous people who might harm them. The village is
dotted with poor refugees who sit next to their rags along the roadside like ruined
aviators.

Food shortages. Post-apocalypse is also characterized by hunger and devastation. Poor

people in The Road feed on cold rice. They have no decent homes where they can cook.
They are forced to cook once and continue eating the food until it is already fermented.
The food people have left is not enough to see them through the mountains. People slept
huddled together in cold and darkness, and they fear they might not wake up the
following day. The father is constantly worried about the child. He keeps him very close
fearing he might loose him to such terrible times. The author mentions that the child was
the only thing that remained between him and poverty. He wakes up to hold the boy when
he is shivering at night from hunger and cold. The chances of dying in the mountains are
high too. Apocalypse results in death due to hunger and other reasons too. Post
apocalyptic lifestyle is therefore characterized by people trying to cope with the unending
hunger (Brandon).

Hope In Post Apocalyptic Times. The theme of fear brings about anxiety and anxiety
trigger people to love each other for safety and hope from the feeling of being together.
People always keep together in times of anxiety so create a feeling of belonging. This
then leads to the theme of hope among the people. In The Road hope balances with fear,
anxiety, and desperation. In the real world, despite tough situations, people are always
hopeful for a better day. When the boy in the road insists that they will be killed, Papa
assures him that they are safe. When the father finds a banker full of tomatoes, apricots,
corned beef, plastic jerry jugs, trash-bags full of blankets, they are hopeful for a better
tomorrow (Karam). They finally realize that their troubles will rest for a while now. Papa
is so elated and remarks, I found everything. they go ahead and sleep the night and the
following day too. They are happy at last. They even enjoy the luxury of choosing the
food they will eat. The boy asks his father, what do I eat first? (McCarthy, 2006 p.44).
However, there is usually confusion during post-apocalypse regarding hope for a better
ending. In the real world, some people loose hope and respond by adapting barbaric
behaviors like looting and stealing from others. In the road, for example, some refugees
gather weapons and constantly oppress the weaker ones. In other works of literature like
By The Waters Of Babylon by Benet, Stephen, hope is present especially for small
children during an apocalypse. This work of literature there is a young hero who is also a
priest's son. This boy wants to become a priest someday during a period of burning and
destruction. This boy is comparable to the unnamed young boy in the Road who is being
natured by his father to become a hero. During a war, children are the luckiest since they
are protected by the elderly in the hope that their future is not fully tainted.

Perceptions About Post-Apocalypse. Most authors have a perception that the world is
composed of more bad things than the good ones. They succeeds in convincing a reader
that struggle is real for humans. However, hope is also present and tends to balance with
fear and desperation during post-apocalypse. Regardless of the destabilization, a good

percentage of people are usually still hopeful for a better day. For example, in McCarthy
Cormac's, 'The Road', when the unnamed kid insists that they will be killed, his Papa
assures him that they are safe. Besides hope for getting over the turmoil, there is also
another category of opportunistic hope. After a conflict parties compete to show off their
superior claims in achieving the societal necessities. Some Opportunities are created for
designers, architects, politicians ,and ideologists. To this end, technology, landmark
buildings, and new developments undergo a revolution.

McCarthy's work particularly explores the dark registers of human evolution creating a
grim novel that talks about how hard earned civilization could come down in an instant.
Special interest is given to emotions of people during troublesome times and the role of
parents towards their children. The work portrays the impacts of war and in particular
how people are forced to love and embrace hope as well as the perception people have
about apocalypse. Everyone become selfish ad looks after themselves. This is a behavior
that is evident in the real world. Literature about post-apocalypse times anxiety is a
source of inspiration for people who use it to reflect on their day to day lives and also
assist others to plan and predict the outcome of such post-apocalyptic events.

Works Cited
Benet, Stephen Vincent. By The Waters Of Babylon. Mankato, MN: Creative Education,
1990. Print.
Brandon, S. 'The Psychological Aftermath Of War.'. BMJ 302.6772 (1991): 305-306.
Web.
Karam, G. 'Outcome Of Depression And Anxiety After War: A Prospective
Epidemiologic
McCarthy, Cormac. The Road. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006. Print.
Study Of Children And Adolescents'. Journal of Traumatic Stress 27.2 (2014): 192-199.
Web.
Szacka, Barbara. 'Polish Remembrance Of World War II'. International Journal of
Sociology 36.4 (2006): 8-26. Web.