Conclusion: We don't know what caused the apocalypse; the evidence provided by McCarthy doesn't completely support any of the commonly proposed causes of the apocalypse; and McCarthy says it doesn't matter. It was most likely the result of Supervolcano under Yellowstone National Park erupting.
What could have caused the apocalypse in The Road?
Speculation could be a meteor hit the earth causing dust, soot and soil to be blasted into the atmosphere. A super volcano could also have erupted, producing a similar effect. The only thing that is known is that the Earth, at least in the area where the man and his son are travelling, is cold and devoid of any warmth.
The author doesn't say exactly what happened, but it is safe to assume that either a nuclear bomb or some type of celestial body, like a meteor, made a sudden impact on the earth's surface.
What caused the end of the world in the book The Road?
The cause of the apocalypse is left intentionally vague, and the novel doesn't provide a detailed explanation or backstory about the catastrophic event that led to the collapse of society.
Further, when pressed in an interview about it back in 2013, the author of the novel grudgingly admitted that although he purposely kept the exact cause ambiguous in the story, as well as the film, in the back of his head he always operated on the assumption that it was indeed an asteroid impact that caused the ...
It has been variously argued to be a nuclear war, meteorite, or even volcanic activity. The novel simply says: “The clocks stopped at 1:17. A long shear of light and then a series of low concussions . . . a dull rose glow in the window glass” (52).
Even in the harsh and unrelenting world the Man and the Boy now inhabit, losing her still plagues the Man's mind. With the death of his wife, the Man's personal world has collapsed, and the same is then true for the Boy once the Man dies at the end.
Many of the genre's best books and films explore the consequences of nuclear war and mass civilizational collapse, following the few survivors left to fend for themselves in a hostile world full of radiation and, in some cases, mutated creatures. Examples of nuclear apocalypse fiction: The Road by Cormac McCarthy.
After giving birth to their son, she loses all hope and decides that she does not want to wait for the inevitable, which in her mind is that she will watch her son be raped and killed. Instead, she kills herself using the sliver of obsidian, leaving two bullets: one for her husband and another for her son.
What was the apocalyptic event in the movie The Road?
Ultimately, the real reason for the apocalypse is impossible to say for sure, but it's likely that it was either a nuclear warhead or a meteor that did the damage. The actual reason isn't essential, though, to the brilliance of both the film and the novel.
It is this portrayal of violence, suffering of the characters, the gloomy atmosphere and such heinousness and wretchedness make the text a dystopian narrative. The setting of the novel, more specifically, the landscape and its description is very vivid and terrible and ominous things are described by McCarthy.
In Cormac McCarthy's The Road, what caused the end of civilization? Although it's never stated, it appears to be a storm of small, fiery meteors that burn much of the earth and make it much colder due to ash.
In summary, the cause of the global catastrophe in Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" is deliberately left ambiguous by the author. While some speculate it to be a nuclear winter or an impact event, there are also hints that suggest it could have been a long-term disaster.
From the movie, as Rodger's answer mentioned, it looks like there are fires and earthquakes, not to mention what looks like much colder weather. The only things I can think of that would cause fires AND earthquakes would be either a meteor hit, or some massive volcanic eruption.
Plot. A man and his young son struggle to survive after an unspecified catastrophe results in an extinction event which caused the death of all plant life and virtually all animal life.
The main theme of the novel, "The Road," is the challenge of survival, while digging deeper into the theme of not only physical survival, but facing the mental challenges that come with physical survival. The man and the boy are suffering throughout the entirety of the novel, but they continue to survive.
Eventually, the boy decides to go, but not before he says goodbye to his father. The boy leaves his father covered in a blanket. The novel ends with the boy welcomed into a new family in this new world that he must learn to inhabit. The question of his future, and the future of humanity remains.
The closing paragraph of Cormac McCarthy's The Road hums with mystery. Some find it suggestive of renewal, though only vaguely. Others contend that it does little to ameliorate the novel's pessimism. Still others find it offers both lamentation and hopefulness, while some pass it over in silence.
In the novel when 'the Man' orders 'the Thief' at gunshot to strip and remove his shoes, the fingers of the Thief's right hand have been cut away and described as 'a sort of fleshy spatula'. McCarthy never details how the amputations are incurred nor why they happen – everything is left to supposition.
What does the woman represent at the end of The Road?
The Woman. A mother who embraces the boy at the end of the story. She talks to the boy about God, but the boy is reticent, saying he only talks to his father, now dead. The woman is conciliatory on this point, drawing a connection between God and men.
The man lifts the door and beneath he finds stairs that descend into a bunker full of canned goods, blankets, cots to sleep on, water, soap, ammunition (but no gun), and various other supplies. The abundance astonishes both the man and the boy, and the boy wonders about the people who made the bunker.
