New materialism calls for the breakdown of the nature-human dualism. Dystopian literature serves as a reminder of what humans do to their environment when they view humans as separate from and superior to nature.
Cormac McCarthy’s The Road demonstrates how natural events will not preserve human life over other lifeforms. In this novel, animals, plants, and humans are all going extinct, and everything is described as grey. McCarthy does not name the main characters. He leaves the location unspecific as well. The anonymity and uncertainty emphasize the idea that this situation could happen to anyone. The man and the boy, the two main characters, have an encounter with a man who says his name is Ely. He is miserable, slowly deteriorating like the man and the boy, and he shares his interesting view on the apocalyptic situation that has occurred. Ely says “People were always getting ready for tomorrow. I didn’t believe in that. Tomorrow wasn’t getting ready for them. It didn’t even know they were there” (McCarthy 168). The world does not care what preparation you may take before a natural disaster occurs. Nature acts upon us without discrimination. The event that caused the situation in The Road, though not named, acted upon everything.
McCarthy’s work shows that difficult circumstances caused humanity to disintegrate. People chain up other humans and dismember them bit by bit while keeping them alive in order to eat them. Cannibalism is a line that the man and the boy do not cross. Although “good” and “bad” change for the two characters as the novel progresses, the idea of cannibalism is still taboo to them. While new materialism suggests that human and nature should coexist, I do not think new materialism would allow for cannibalism. New materialism calls for humans to value life and the environment, and to stop creating binaries between things that are not opposites. When an author writes dystopian literature, they are showing the reader how society can fall apart as a result of human blunders. See my first blog post, Dystopia or Dire Warning, for a similar discussion about why authors write dystopian novels.
When people realize that humans are part of nature, as McCarthy’s The Road suggests, we will notice it more. Instead of thinking anthropocentrically, when we consider nature as an equal, we recognize world events as something that effects more than just the human individual. Dystopian novels teach us to broaden our view of the world, and realize that we are not the only person or being to be affected by a given world event. For example, during the Coronavirus stay-at-home order, it can feel like I am the only person in isolation, but this is not the case. In fact, I have it better than the majority of people.
Dystopian novels are not the only books that issue a warning to their readers. Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax teaches children about environmental destruction. Bill Peet wrote Farewell to Shady Glade and The Wump World, both to teach children to respect nature. National Geographic provides articles for students to learn about human impact on the environment at this link. Education can help people, even children, recognize human impact on the environment.
“Earth, Pollution, Globe, Climate Change, Human, Nature Conservation, World, Responsibility, Humanity, Globalization.” Pxfuel, www.pxfuel.com/en/free-photo-xiibf.
Jones, Dave, and Kerstin Pfliegner. “Can We Use Nature to Mitigate Wildfire Risk?” Brink, 23 Sept. 2019, www.brinknews.com/can-we-use-nature-to-mitigate-wildfire-risk/.
McCarthy, Cormac, et al. “The Road (Movie Tie-in Edition 2009) (Vintage International).” AbeBooks, Vintage, 1 Jan. 1970, www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=Cormac+McCarthy&bi=0&bx=off&ds=30&sortby=17&tn=The+Road.
McCarthy, Cormac. The Road. Vintage Books, 2006.
National Geographic Society. “Human Impacts on the Environment.” National Geographic Society, www.nationalgeographic.org/topics/resource-library-human-impacts-environment/?q=&page=1&per_page=25.