death theme Flashcards
post-apocalyptic setting
almost all animals, plants and humans have died off because of some unnamed disaster- “ribs of fishes in their millions”
because of this, death is a constantly looming figure
the land and sea are covered in darkness and ashes, nothing grows and dead bodies litter the landscape
death’s presence
it is often personified as a character- “death and his days will be numbered too”
the woman describes her suicide as taking death as her “new lover”
chooses to kill herself rather than be eventually raped and eaten- “we used to talk about death, she said. We dont anymore”
the man’s dying
constantly coughing up more and more blood
“my only hope is for eternal nothingness”
“we’re not dying”
setting and plot
both illustrate the apparent entropy of the earth and all life, and death must be taken into account in every action the characters take
violence
in the post-apocalyptic world adds to the horror of death, as int he face of disaster many humans have reverted to terrible behaviours of murder and cannibalism- “murder was everywhere upon the land”
the choice inherent in living in this world is having to deal with the violence
man’s choice to live
the man is a rare case, in that despite the ubiquity of death he still chooses to live, and to live without violence- unless in protecting the boy
“I wash a dead man’s brains out of his hair”
oprressive mood
caused by death and violence- “burned them alive”
makes the readers and characters confront the most basic aspects of humanity
mountains
“there was a good chance they would die in the mountains and that would be that”
pilgrims
“Pilgrims sank down and fell over dead”
religion can’t help them now
death always with them
slowly starving and fearing being killed and eaten
in 1984, death is also constantly looming as people are silently removed “unpersons”
man does everything to postpone death
but Winston does not - he actively seeks out the Brotherhood and his relationship with Julia
death an attractive prospect
“new lover” - not even her love for her husband or son could make her want to stay
the attraction of death too strong
unlike the Road
BNW and 1984 trivialise death - in BNW young children are “conditioned” that death is meaningless by visiting the dying and being rewarded with chocolate
in 1984, people merely cease to exist - “unpersons”
