What it means to be human

I have recently devoured The Road by  Cormac McCarthy. A deliciously bleak novel, it is quite ironic in a way. There is much talk of this author and his works, and this novel has been made into film which is currently out in theaters as we speak. Well I have heard a lot of talk of this book and the strong impressions it has left upon readers and how many people love it, and while I did very much enjoy it as I was reading, I had not felt at the time of the reading of it that strong impact, and yet, it seems I cannot resist speaking of the book whenever I get the opportunity to do so. There is something about it which seems to seep slowly into the blood stream and make you think and turn it over in your mind even days after you have read it.

There is one point in particularly in which I wish to focus upon in the discussing of this novel. First to say a few things about it to set up the scene. It is set in this post-apocalyptic sort of setting, that is to say, that the world for all intent and purpose has come to an end, through means not outwardly stated, but alluding to nuclear warfare, now only a few scattered survivors reaming in this bleak gray world, food and resources are scarce.

Now, naturally, it should go without saying whenever you have a post-apocalyptic, world-end, anarchist type of setting, what is the one thing that is never missing from this scene?

Yes, of course, there has to be roving gangs of cannibals.

I personally find that in the given setting and conditions cannibals are rather unfairly portrayed. They are set up as the villains of the story, and demonized in various ways to make them appear to be completely deprived and nothing more than slaves to utter and complete uncontrolled and thoroughly unleashed carnality. They are portrayed in the most animalistic sense possible.

Of course this sort of thing does go back to such things as the Minotaur myth, and werewolf legends and other similar things. It is a playing upon that fear that has existed within man since the very earliest of what we consider to be "civilization" the fear that man has of that animal that does lurk inside of him. It is Jekyll and Hyde all over again. The old "what if" if man did let go of those things of which he thinks truly makes him human and sets him apart from the beasts.

The idea of what would happen if man reverted back to his natural instincts and let reason give way to that instinct. It was the Greeks who had first established the crucial importance of this idea of reason within man, and the need to set reason above all else and use it to control what is viewed as our baser impulses.  It is reason that is believed to be the building block of society and civilization.

But not too get too carried away with these archetypes and philosophical ideas, and to bring things back around to the initial point at hand. It is natural to understand why people would be given to such a strongly adverse reaction against cannibalism, it does go against what is considered to be natural.

Yet, considering the circumstances, in a world when all resemblance of civilization has collapsed, there is nothing left but the preservation of the self, and in fact it is only the logical and natural progression when all other food sources have been so several depleted to turn to the only other available food source. It may seem gruesome and morbid, and there are some whom might argue that in such a world to hold onto ones "humanity" is the only thing left. But to help others see through my eyes a bit at least to understand where I come from upon this point, and what may appear to be my abnormal acceptance of cannibalism, from my perspective man is not a superior species and does not have some special right to live more so than any other living creature, thus from where I sit, there is in truth little difference between killing of an animal for ones sustainability and killing of a human for the same purpose. I do not view the human life of  more value the life of any other living creature.

So if a person would be willing to eat the flesh of another animal, there is no reason why they should not also be willing to feed upon the flesh of another man. Cannibals are not horrible monsters that have somehow become perverse or vile, or something near demonic. They are self-preservationists, and that is in fact a very natural and in fact logical human characteristic.

11:49 PM - 12/2/2009 - post comment

For though All are not able to write books, all conceive themselves able to judge them. ~The Monk

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