Civilization In George Stewart's Earth Abides

In George Stewart’s Earth Abides, all civilization is lost and the remaining humans on the Earth must start over and create a new society. This is not an easy task, especially for people who are used to the commodities of civilization. The most significant issue Ish and his companions face is their dependency on the Old Times. In the times before the almost extinction of the human race, the world provided clean, running water, governing body to make decisions, easily accessed food, and easy access to education. Now, none of that is provided for the people of this new society. But, “the community was still dependent upon the leavings of the past” (Stewart 150). They used the running water without bothering to find out where it came from and

This is exemplified in the novel; the people of the new society are “not creating or doing anything for [themselves]” (Stewart 155). Every new year in the society, there is talk about getting a gas refrigerator and hooking it up so they could have ice again. But there is only talk, they never actually follow through with their ideas. Ish even mentions the fact that they always “talk about it, but [they] never do anything” (Stewart 155). Ish seems to be the only sensible one in the group, as he is constantly making suggestions like getting more domestic animals, and growing more of their own food, and teaching the children to read and write. But, things seem to be all alright in the community, so why go changing things now? It is like the old saying “if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.” They have “drifted along all these years not doing anything about producing [their] own food and getting civilization back into some kind of running order” (Stewart 157). This creates an incredible amount of vulnerability within the community. These people cannot fend for themselves, and one day, their supplies will cease to exist. Humanity’s tendency to be lazy is going to bite this group in the butt. “People were undoubtedly the same now, or worse. They might as well wait until something happened that forced them to act; that something would almost certainly be unpleasant…” (Stewart