9/20/19 Wayne Koh PD1

9/20/2019
Modern Mythology 2020
Wayne Koh
PD1
In today's mythology class, we had to present our summer reading projects
based on the book we read over the summer: The Road by Cormac McCarthy. We were
tasked to explain what happened prior to the beginning of the novel and what drove the
humans to make the choices they did in the book along with creating a book cover and
title depicting it.
Subsections are the group’s chosen title for their book.
The Great Death
The presentation began by suggesting the possibility of a supervolcanic eruption
leading to The Road. They deem this possible because the dust from the meteor would
have ended the majority of life on Earth as we know of it. The group continued to
provide scientific evidence to support this claim. The group then went over the cover
which depicted a volcano over green grass and grey smoke covering the entire page.
The entire cover was done on a black construction paper. They explained that the dark
background was reminiscent to the overall theme of the book. Additionally, they added a
subtle detail of a skull onto the smoke, as a skull is a universal symbol of death and
death being a very theme that is brought up very often in the book. In the cover, only the
lava and the grass have color. One of the members explained that the lava can be
thought of as fire, which is a symbol for hope and the love between the man and his
son. The color of both the fire and the grass contrasts the desolate and bland world that
the man and the boy both live in.
Overall, I liked how the details this group used but if some more visuals used in
the presentation would have strengthened it. There was little mention of how the
humans have worsened their situation.
The Last War
In my own group’s presentation, we believed that Earth was once a utopian
society, with the cure to cancer being found and world hunger and disease almost
eradicated. However, a meteor struck Earth and in a scramble to fight over resources,
the world’s leaders decided to go to war, despite the lack of resources left. Many fought
over essential resources, such as clean water and food, and were willing to use extreme
measures to put themselves at an advantage. As the humans began eradicating
themselves, few survived. One of the major reasons for the downfall of humanity was greed. People would either greed over resources, refuse to share and die before being
able to use said resources (“Crate upon crate of canned goods. Tomatoes, peaches,
beans, apricots. Canned hams. Corned beef. Hundreds of gallons of water in ten gallon
plastic jerry jugs. Paper towels, toiletpaper, paper plates. Plastic trash bags stuffed with
blankets.”). Additionally, as major food sources were depleted, people began to
desperately find anything to eat. For some, this included children, as they were seen to
be too weak to fight back. However, the youth are a symbol of hope and belief in the
future. By eating the youth, the people have given up hope and their belief of the future
becoming better. Our book cover had a mushroom cloud with, with bomber planes in
the air destroying nearby buildings. Bystanders can be seen pointing at it all, expressing
their confusion. The man and the boys mother, clearly pregnant, are on the front of the
cover, embracing each other. The title, “The Last War”, can be seen splattered in the
middle of the cover. A grey body of water shows the unsanitary water from the dust
stirred up by the meteor.
One of our strongest points was our cover, as it depicts our vision of the moment
that ended the pre-apocalyptic world. However, one of the things we lacked was the
inclusion of more detail of the pre-apocalyptic world. Another level of depth would have
made the presentation stronger.
1:17
In this presentation, they believed that the prequel would have a more biblical
basis. They said that since McCarthy was more religious in the later stages of his life,
he might have intended The Road to be interpreted more as such too. In one of the
quotes the groups used, “The clocks stopped at 1:17. A long shear of light and then a
series of low concussions”, they thought that the time had more significance. They
made a connection between the time and a Bible verse, specifically to Revelation 1:17.
The verse states “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right
hand on me, saying, ‘Fear not, I am the first and the last’.” This is similar to one of the
lines the boy has, “Yes I am, he said. I am the one”, which further proves him to be a
Christ figure. As for what took place before the apocalyptic world of The Road, the
group brought up a biblical story of the Seven Eyed Lamb. To summarize, God was not
happy with humanity and sent Jesus down as a seven eyed lamb. As the seven seals
were broken, the following events took place: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
(Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death) being released, the martyrs crying out, celestial
signs, and the Heavens being silent. The seven seals being broken may have caused
meteors, earthquakes, leveling of the mountains, blackening of the sky, along with the
Four Horsemen. In their cover, they drew a demolished road with the boy being shown
at the beginning of the road, showing how he still has much of his journey left.In my opinion, this group’s idea was one of the more interesting ones, as it dealt
with the more religious side of McCarthy. One of the things they could have done better
was the inclusion of more details from the slide into the cover itself. Otherwise, I think
this presentation was solid.
The Strike
This group also believed that a meteor struck Earth and caused many natural
disasters, such as tsunami and earthquakes, to destroy the world. One thing that made
this group stand out was their focus on the role of government. As the meteor struck
Earth, communities were formed out of panic and for mutual reassurance. In a State of
Emergency, the government can declare martial law, which would replace the local
officers with national guards and places the huge regions under the control of the
military body. Additionally, under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act
(1977), the government is allowed to freeze assets and block financial transactions. The
group corroborate their vision by including details of utilities shutting down and
barricades being put up. This group also puts the blame on human greed and their
desperation to stay alive. As a result, this eliminates trust in this world with one of the
only exceptions being the boy. The man does not care for anything except for the
survival of his son. On the cover, a sunny sky and grey sky are divided and a meteor
strike can be seen from the grey side. The sunny side includes a happy couple, a big
and colorful home, and a pond with a turtle on the side. On the grey side, the buildings
are monotonous and colorless, most of them broken. A dead tree can be seen next to a
man in rags. The sunny side represents life before the meteor strike and the happiness
and prosperity. The grey side represents life in the apocalyptic world. The man in the
rags represents the situation the people are in, having to move constantly and a lower
standard of cleanliness, as it is not the top priority. The dead tree and the destroyed
houses emphasize both the lack of life and how people were forced to abandon their
previous lifestyles in order to survive in this world.
This group’s cover included many symbols that conveyed their vision quite well.
The focus on the role of the people/government was an interesting take on this task too.
Overall, I think this was one of the better presentations in the class.
Reflection
This project was an interesting experience and was a great exercise for
creativity. As McCarthy never revealed what really happened prior to The Road, every
group’s vision was not wrong, as long as they provided evidence that made it plausible.
I thought that 1:17 had an interesting concept of the events that happened prior to the
book, bringing McCarthy’s religious strong religious beliefs into consideration. The
Strike’s idea of the government practicing martial law and the cover art was unique and made the presentation fun to listen on. The Great Death had a good use of symbolism
in their cover and was able to convey it well. I thought that our group had an explanation
as to why and how the meteor and the “World War” translated into The Road. I enjoyed
this creative and freethinking project and I would like to keep this freedom throughout all
the work we do in Modern Mythology.