The+Moral+Wasteland+Second+Period+2010

= = = The Moral Wasteland =

// "The man fell back instantly and lay with blood bubbling from the hole in his forehead. The boy was lying lying in his lap with no expression on his face at all." (McCarthy 66) //

// "What the boy had seen was a charred human infant headless and gutted and blackening on the spit." (McCarthy 198) //

// "In the night he heard hideous shrieks coming from the house and he tried to put his hands over the boy's ears and after a while the screaming stopped." (McCarthy 115) //

// "Behind them came wagons drawn by slaves in harness and piled with goods of war and after that the women, perhaps a dozen in number, some of the pregnant, and lastly a supplementary cohort of catamites illclothed against the cold and fitted in dogcollars and yoked each to each." (McCarthy 93) //

// "You thought he was an angel? I didn't know what he was. I never thought to see a child again." (McCarthy 172) // media type="custom" key="7233727" align="center"

Analysis:   Morals play a huge role in a normal society. They set the standards of right from wrong and show the diversity in people. Unfortunately, in this society, most of the humans have traded their morals for survival. Most have become thieves and some have even sunk down to the level of eating other people. Although some morality exists in people like the boy and his father, overall it has gone to waste.Our quotes show how morality has disappeared from this society by displaying the actions of different people. In the first quote, judging by the blank expression on the boy's face, it is evident that murder has become a common thing even to the "good" people. The second and third quote show two different examples of cannibalism and how disgusting and cruel people have become.The forth quote is an example of slavery. The world as these people knew it has spun out of control so they turned to slavery because it was one of the few things that they could have power over. The last quote makes it clear that children are a rare thing to see during this time because most have died either from the disaster or the immorality of humans. Discussion Questions: 1.) Did the man contribute to the moral wasteland? 2.) How would growing up in the moral wasteland shape the boy's personality as he develops into a man? 3.) Were the cannibals immoral?