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Between Ash and Ethics: The Collapse of Memory, Morality and Nature in The Road 
University of Gävle, Faculty of Education and Business Studies, Department of Humanities.
2025 (English)Independent thesis Basic level (degree of Bachelor), 10 credits / 15 HE creditsStudent thesis
Abstract [en]

This essay examines how The Road can be analysed and understood through the lens of second-wave ecocriticism. The focus is on the themes environmental collapse, morality and language decay. Set in a post-apocalyptic world where the land is barren and gray dust surrounds everything, the novel follows a boy and his father’s journey to find a safe haven. The novel depicts nature not as an inactive backdrop but as an antagonistic force that changes human identity, language, memory and ethics. With the concepts solastalgia and anthropocentrism, the analysis highlights the moral differences between the survivalist father and the compassionate son. It also explores how the deterioration of language and names reflects the collapse of culture and identity. Ultimately, this study argues that by offering a bleak image of what can remain after environmental collapse, The Road serves as a warning about the possible psychological and cultural costs of ecological devastation.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2025. , p. 20
Keywords [en]
Cormac McCarthy, The Road, ecocriticism, solastalgia, anthropocentrism
National Category
Studies of Specific Literatures
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-47495OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hig-47495DiVA, id: diva2:1973347
Subject / course
English
Supervisors
Examiners
Available from: 2025-06-23 Created: 2025-06-19 Last updated: 2025-10-02Bibliographically approved

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Between Ash and Ethics(446 kB)271 downloads
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Studies of Specific Literatures

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CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • harvard-cite-them-right
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • sv-SE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • de-DE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf