As every piece of literature consist of themes The Road and A Canticle for Leibowitz is no exception. Themes hold crucial information regarding the story; they show the main ideas and thoughts of the authors writing the particular piece of art. Since it holds so much value to the readers, they are always emphasized to a certain degree, but in the case of post-apocalyptic genre violence is a pillar of this genre while love is used more rarely. Therefore by studying and researching how Cormac McCarthy and Walter Miller portrayed the most important themes in post-apocalyptic genre, the basis and difference between 20th and 21st post-apocalyptic literature will be drawn. The most prominent theme of the post-apocalyptic genre is violence. The theme of violence …show more content…
No chances. Do you hear?" (McCarthy 2006., 145). The man is telling his son that he should resort to violence when the time comes or need arises. Gun is not the only thing that represents the violence in the novel. As Cormac McCarthy has depicted characters masterfully in his novel, the signs representing of violence can be found on some of the characters of the road; with no needed explanation such as a Roadrat "He dove and grabbed the boy and rolled and came up holding him against his chest with the knife at his throat. The man had already dropped to the ground and he swung with him and leveled the pistol and fired from a two-handed position balanced on both knees at a distance of six feet. The man fell back instantly and lay with blood bubbling from the hole in his forehead." (McCarthy,2006, 34). this quote reveals that the man resorted to violence using the gun, and the character known as a Roadrat is a bandit, who tried to kill the boy in order to get their supplies which hints that survival has taken a top priority for the most remaining people as they have resulted to this violent acts. The same thought process is applied to the other mentioned characters such as: cannibals and a man