The end of the wor(l)d as we know it? : language in postapocalyptic
- WCU Author/Contributor (non-WCU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Joshua Brady Cole (Creator)
- Institution
- Western Carolina University (WCU )
- Web Site: http://library.wcu.edu/
- Advisor
- Mae Miller Claxton
Abstract: In recent times, the idea of apocalypse has consumed the public consciousness.
Naturally, this preoccupation with the end of the world has been a frequent subject for
literary exploration. Cormac McCarthy’s The Road and Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and
Crake are two recent novels that are set in the aftermath of global destruction. In The
Road, an unnamed cataclysmic event has left the world in ruins, while in Oryx and
Crake, the human race has been nearly annihilated by a man-made pandemic. As a result
of these apocalyptic events, the postapocalyptic landscapes of the novels have been
radically changed and rendered unspeakable for many of the characters that have
survived. These characters are equipped only with the signifiers of the old world, and
these signifiers no longer hold meaning in the new, postapocalyptic world. Therefore, as
a result of the cataclysmic events, the postapocalyptic worlds of The Road and Oryx and
Crake become sites for linguistic transformation. Both novels feature protagonists, in the
father and Snowman, who represent the pre-apocalyptic world. These characters struggle
to find their place in the new world, since they are burdened by the signifiers of the old
world. Ultimately, their existences prove anachronistic, as they are unable to fully define themselves in the new world. Both novels also feature characters, in the boy and the
Crakers, who represent the postapocalyptic world. These characters are charged with
determining the linguistic transformation that will take place in the postapocalyptic
world. Both the boy and the Crakers employ a simple, pared-down language that stands
in stark contrast to the language of the pre-apocalyptic world. As a result of the
apocalyptic events in the novels, language has been restored to its essential elements.
Ultimately, both The Road and Oryx and Crake affirm language as a redemptive and
inextricable part of human existence. They also suggest, however, that if language is to
exist after an apocalyptic event, it must be radically re-imagined.
The end of the wor(l)d as we know it? : language in postapocalyptic
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Created on 7/1/2011
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Thesis
- Language: English
- Date: 2011
- Keywords
- Apocalypse, Atwood, Language, McCarthy, Postapocalypse, Postapocalyptic
- Subjects
- McCarthy, Cormac, 1933- -- Criticism and interpretation
- McCarthy, Cormac, 1933- -- Road
- Atwood, Margaret, 1939- -- Criticism and interpretation
- Atwood, Margaret, 1939- -- Oryx and Crake
- Apocalyptic literature -- History and criticism