Humanity is defined by the human race, human nature and the quality of being humane and kind. It shares a meaning with words like sympathy, tenderness and goodwill. Humanity is extinct in The Road by Cormac McCarthy in more than one of the ways. The human race was almost abolished by an unknown event that left the world covered in ash and most of its citizens dead to the world. Those who did not die in the initial “event” often committed suicide opposing to living in the dark, dreary place and peace and happiness was inexistent. Those who remained were few and far between and they turned on each other. The people turned to cannibalism, the captured fellow human beings and locked them in cages so they could slowly eat them bit by bit. I cannot imagine that being the case if our lives as we know it were ended so abruptly, yet at the same time I can. Some people just would not care about carrying on “the fire” of civility and benevolence. I hope I would not become a person who would literally do whatever I needed to do to survive, but how can we know unless we are put to that test?
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