"Dystopian novels are in reality literary expressions of existentialism"

To what extent do you agree with this statement?

[The Road, The Machine Stops and Styles of Extinction]
An awakening of conscience, no matter how confused it may be, develops from an act
of rebellion and is represented by the sudden realization that something exists with
which the rebel can identify himself even if only for a moment. 1 The characters in
dystopian novels have their existence supplanted. All facets of their being are brutally
selected and then horribly dissected, when they at last uncover their raison d'tre in the
face of the inherent terror of existence. The struggle of an individual in society is a
momentous catalyst for dystopian fiction, and whether these ideas are predicated upon
by a philosopher or an author, they are at root united by concern for the individual and
not for society.
However, we must not become nebulous in our definition of existentialism. Sartre himself
maintained in Existentialism and Humanism that the term had been applied
unnecessarily to so many works that it had become meaningless, perhaps some
ubiquitous bourgeois phrase or even a cultural currency2. In order not to make such a
reprehensible mistake, we will now define our terms. The Oxford English Dictionary
defines existentialism as a doctrine that concentrates on the existence of the individual,
who, being free and responsible, is held to be what he makes himself by the selfdevelopment of his essence through acts of the will.3 This philosophical notion became
prominent particularly after the Second World War, and tellingly dystopian literature first
gained notoriety between the end of WWI and the Cold War4, a term invented by Orwell
in Tribune. Yet, it is not clear that existentialism prevailed throughout the Cold War era
as well. At any rate, both ideas contained in either theoretical or literary musings
challenged many who were at the point of insurmountable anguish. It encouraged them
to rebel against illusory institutions and realise the majesty of life. It is worth mentioning
at this point that the question is unanswerable without recourse to European texts which
are central to Existential doctrine. Furthermore, what we can observe is a synthesis
between two apparently mutually apathetic concepts, and the very idea that dystopian
novels are if anything literary expressions of existentialism could be no more apparent
than it is in The Road and The Machine Stops. I have selected The Road through its
reputation as the most likely text out of the dystopian genre to be a literary expression of
existentialism. The second I have selected on the basis that because of Forster's middle
class reputation, it is the least likely to express existential thought. However, through this
essay I shall demonstrate how even the most unlikely text is permeated by a struggle of
conscience.
The Man in The Road has acknowledged that life is essentially barren, silent, godless.
Desperation manifests itself in every paragraph, and there is no divine goodness to
deliver the characters from the harshness of their existence. A main tenet of existential
thought is channelled here, yet the Man cannot seem to bear the burden of this
realisation: Are you there? he whispered. Will I see you at last? Have you a neck by
Albert Camus The Rebel Penguin Modern Classics 2001
Jean-Paul Sartre Existentialism and Humanism Methuen 2007
3
OED Online http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/66266?redirectedFrom=Existentialism
4
Erika Gottlieb - Dystopian Fiction East and West: Universe of Terror and Trial McGills
Queens University Press 2001
1
2

which to throttle you? Have you a heart? Damn you eternally have you a soul? The
linearity of The Road is threaded with a motif of such rhetorical questions. He cannot
justify his faith now that he has been disenchanted. It is clear to the man that amongst
the savagery and calamity he experiences, God has either left his children to play in a
world of terror, or he simply has never existed. McCarthys own spirituality appears to be
inextricably linked in with the nature of The Road; yet its minimalist structure cannot
seem to bear the weight of his metaphysical enterprise. The contradiction is, however,
raised by Ely, that there is no God and we are his prophets. As such, Ely is
paraphrasing Nietzsches Thus Spake Zarathustra, which in an almost prophetic fashion
declared that God is dead, and we killed him. Such a statement is not far from the
increasingly secular world in which McCarthy has come to live. Perhaps Elys view is a
reflection upon McCarthys dwindling faith. At any rate, because of McCarthys almost
skeletal structure we are not sure of the statements true meaning- is it that like God, we
do not exist? Or is it that we exist to perpetuate an archaic, outdated belief? At least for
the Existentialist, it would be both. This style turns up in contrast to his verbosity in
Suttree, a semi-autobiographical work which is a book with rude, startling power and a
flood of talk5 Charyn appears to be speaking with truth here: What deity in the realms
of dementia, what rabid god decocted out of the smoking lobes of hydrophobia could
have devised a keeping place for souls so poor as is this flesh. This description is
tediously lengthy, in stark contrast to the Man's questions about the nature of God inThe
Road. This is true for many passages in Suttree, and more prolix passages of
metaphysical bewilderment found in the first two novels of the Border trilogy, and in the
epilogue of the third, seem dissipated in the bleak landscape of The Road in which the
metaphysics is uncharacteristically personalised, grounded and isolated. If Suttree is
comparable to a good scream in the ear6, then The Road is a disquieting, droning,
perpetual white noise that makes the reader yearn for restored silence.
The Road is however much closer to Colin Wilson's The New Existentialism in its quasiilliterate prose style than the existentialism proper with which I am concerned. Wilson's
adaptations of the concept are nonetheless relevant and require discourse: In this state
of philosophic pessimism... I went one evening into a dressing-room in the twilight to
procure some article that was there; when suddenly there fell upon me without any
warning, just as if it came out of the darkness, a horrible fear of my own existence.
Simultaneously there arose in my mind the image of an epileptic patient whom i had
seen in the asylum.7Wilson's syntactical choices are not far from McCarthy's: the lack of
punctuation marks, the long unpunctuated sentences which appear as the floodgates of
introspection which can only be opened by literary means. But The Road excels where
The New Existentialism does not. McCarthy's roads are William Blakes roads without
correction, crooked, the roads of genius. And McCarthy's Byzantine plot structures are
so because they are shaped by the long low howls from the souls of the dispossessed,
the outsiders of this life.
Perhaps one of the similarities between The Road and The Machine Stops and there
are not many is that one of the main characters fails to accept religion and denies its
Suttree Jerome Charyn http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/05/17/specials/mccarthysuttree.html
6
Ibid.
7
The New Existentialism Colin Wilson
http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Introduction_to_the_New_Existentialism.html?id=zdICXAQ-5IC
5

existence, viewing others spirituality with anger and disdain. Vashti does not consider
you [Kuno] irreligious, for there is no such thing as religion left. Forster here has
made an interesting syntactical choice, and it is the use of the world irreligious. The
word literally suggests indifference towards religion, but for Vashti it implies his faith is
damaged, despite it being eradicated by the Machine. The impression the reader gets is
that Vashti is blinded, and Kuno has been liberated by the falsity of faith whether its
origins are from God, or a machine. This is further helped when Vashti refers to the
Machine it is capitalised; yet when Kuno refers to the Machine it is not.
What follows from the lack of a personal relationship with a theistic being is another
experiential realisation: that there are no objective truths. The Man has a challenge of
sustaining his sons innate goodness while forcing him to witness the corruption of all
moral behaviour.8 The good guys struggle to uphold their wish to stay just so, because
there is no instruction. They are utterly alone, utterly lacking actual truth. Keren wonders
why the earth is seen as a dying intestate and why does the destruction not entail at
least an ethical lesson?9 And for him, this is because The Road is steeped in Camusian
thought, and the philosophical basis is more absurdist a theory that states that any
human effort to comprehend the universe will ultimately fail. I am not inclined to agree
with Keren here; although there is no real truth, there is truth in the conduct of the Man.
It is not only truth but goodness too, as he tries to protect his son: They slept huddled
together in the rank quilts in the dark and the cold. He held the boy close to him. So thin.
My heart, he said. McCarthy does not turn to absolute agnosticism, but he is
disorientated by the world that appears as absurd. The end of the world necessitates
that the Man does good in a world devoid of any ethical instruction. What McCarthy
constructs is a long running motif which acts as the Mans own basic moral code.10 We
wouldnt ever eat anybody, would we? No. Of course not. Even if we were starving?
We're starving now. This is because they are the good guys, who are carrying the
fire. The fire is a blameless example of existential morality. That is to say that the two
characters are cultivating their goodness, a continual progression to greater heights, but
most importantly, one of self-measure. It is this self-made moral code, which
existentialists promote, one of self-direction and human resilience that is found in the
family that look after the Boy at the end of the novel, who also express surprise that the
Man and his Boy are on the Road. One may join the family with their wonder, because
we cannot be certain as to why the Man insists upon his journey. What is clear is that the
Road holds rather esoteric significance for the Man which the Boy becomes confused
by. The child's doubts are denoted by the frequent questioning of his father: What would
you do if I died? If you died I would want to die too. Either way, the luxury of creating or
even doubting an organic moral code is not permitted for those in Forsters world of the
Machine, since all direction comes from the Book published by the elusive Central
Committee. Thus Forster can perpetuate the symbols of religion that highlight the
devotional aspects of a secular living which his character Kuno quite obviously
repudiates. The existing system in Vashti and Kunos world is oppressive enough for
Kunos realisation to take place.
As we have seen, English Literature in this respect cannot stand outside the context of
world literature, and it is in the grandfather of dystopian thought, We, that the conflict is

9
10

Apocalypse Now- The Road reviewed by Ron Charles in The Washington Post 2006
Absurdity and Revolt in Cormac McCarthys The Road Michael Keren 2012
The Cold Illucid World - Chris Danta in Styles of Extinction Continuum Books 2010

summarised: I do not want anyone to want for me. I want to want for myself.11 The
perversion of human autonomy is highly evident in dystopian thought, particularly texts
like Huxleys Brave New World and Orwells Nineteen Eighty-Four. Such themes beget
existential stirrings in the characters of the novels, because their political conscience
turns up in contrast with the consciences of the masses. Vashti -to begin with at leastwishes to preserve her particular way of life; she dislikes seeing the horrible brown
earth, and the sea, and the stars when it is dark. She cherishes her personal chambers
and solitude and instruction from the Machine. Whilst it is not evident that the Central
Committee is absolutely repressive, it does not allow for social flourishing, especially
considering the advice on travelling and leaving personal chambers. The inconsistency
in Vashtis mind is almost a reflection of the tension in Forsters thought. As a middle
class liberal intellectual Forster yearned for some radical transformation of society so
that the individual could experience freedom and fulfilment12 coupled with the
awareness that such a change could destroy his secure social standing. One might
interpret Vashtis conformity as the part of Forster who wishes for the continuity of his
lifestyle, and Kuno as the literary representation of his discreet nonconformity and
perhaps his homosexuality. Political identity is a subject matter that is perennially visited
by writers, and has been in the past by thinkers like Nietzsche and Dostoyevsky,
particularly in Crime and Punishment, where he channels the wretchedness of human
life, and McCarthy follows suit to this tradition in existential thought.
However, it is not only a political view that could stir in us an awakening. Camus wrote
extensively on his own cultural conscience, considering the occurrences between
French colonists and native Algerians along with Sartre. However, in McCarthys time
aside maybe the 9/11 attacks- is there much to say about cultural referencing or
discussion in The Road? According to Mark Steven in Styles of Extinction there is.
McCarthy apparently writes at a time where the economico-symbolic world has
obliterated the cultural-symbolic world.13 And it is from this viewpoint McCarthy displays
his regret with the symbols which will endure through the worlds slow ending. It is not
religion, nor is it the charred remains of great literature, but the corporate symbol of a
can of Coca-Cola. McCarthy rises above a single minded description. Amongst the utter
destitution in The Road, the Man and his boy are not deprived of Coca-Cola; even the
machines are gutted. The Mans reaction is of simultaneous wonder and disorientation,
signifying the crisis the Existentialist has: that ultimately the life you knew has passed,
that you have been liberated from your cultural instincts, what you ought to believe
politically. Your existence has truly been supplanted. This reference has its roots in
science fiction, but McCarthys prose that is delightful to the ear and perfectly inflexible
descriptions allow him to excel over those who created the genre. The falling snow
curtained them about is a very fitting example of McCarthys idiosyncrasy. The
characters seem swallowed up by the snow, it prevents them from seeing anything from
either side of the Road, also serving as an interesting metaphor for the father, who
seems to discourage thoughts straying from their journey. Another fitting example of
McCarthy's delightful prose would be the following: People sitting on the sidewalk in the
dawn half immolate smoking in their clothes. Like failed sectarian suicides. In their final
sacrifice, McCarthy does not fail to give a final judgement to those no longer -unlike the
Man- wish to survive, their attempts like failed sectarian bigoted, parochial suicides.
We Yevgeny Zamyatin Penguin Twentieth Century Classics 1993
How to Study an E.M Forster Novel Nigel Messenger Macmillan Education 1991
13
The Late World of Cormac McCarthy Mark Steven in Styles of Extinction Continuum
Books 2010
11
12

The dialogue that follows is also reminiscent of Becketts play Waiting for Godot: If we
were going to die would you tell me? I dont know. We're not going to die. As such,
McCarthy pays tribute to Beckett around the anti-dialectical and non-luminous aspect of
the color gray"14, capturing the noir gris of living, exploring the endless absurdity of
existence. Here, we can also observe the Mans refusal to think about death, to confront
the ultimate end of his journey, shows that the Mans existential awakening is not fully
complete. Furthermore, we can see just how deeply satiated dystopian fiction is by
existential thought. I would argue that even Vashti has her own realisation in The
Machine Stops, even if she does not realise it herself. As the brilliance of her cell fades,
so does her faith in the Machine. Vashtis denial is removed when the Machine is
destroyed, and she is not only liberated physically but mentally: Thus she opened her
prison and escaped escaped in the spirit. Forsters deliberate emphasis on her
spiritual liberation is highly significant, as he continues: that she escapes in body I
cannot perceive that. Furthermore, Vashtis previous denial about her comfortable living
evokes the bourgeois culture Forster abhorred but also enjoyed.
For the dystopian character or the existentialist or the outsider, there is a tropism to one
solid truth that they have established for themselves. It is an all-encompassing feeling
of absolute solitude, of absolute freedom, and the acknowledgement of the blind pitiless
indifference of the world in relation to your existence. The disorientating realisation that
you are left alone without excuse to direct your life: you are condemned to be free. 15
This truth has been brought into reality for the Man and the Boy, for Vashti and Kuno,
through the churning pain of rebellion against their consitution, their culture, their
disappearing faith and political conscience. Dystopian novels, on this evidence, are
indeed literary expressions of existentialism.

2746 Words

14
15

The Cold Illucid World Chris Danta in Styles of Extinction Continuum Books 2010
Being and Nothingness Jean Paul Sartre Routledge Classics 2003

Bibliography
Albert Camus The Rebel Penguin Modern Classics 2001
Jean-Paul Sartre Existentialism and Humanism Methuen 2007
OED Online http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/66266?redirectedFrom=Existentialism
Erika Gottlieb - Dystopian Fiction East and West: Universe of Terror and Trial McGills
Queens University Press 2001
Suttree Jerome Charyn http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/05/17/specials/mccarthysuttree.html
Apocalypse Now- The Road reviewed by Ron Charles in The Washington Post 2006
Absurdity and Revolt in Cormac McCarthys The Road Michael Keren PDF 2012
The New Existentialism Colin Wilson
http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Introduction_to_the_New_Existentialism.html?id=zdICXAQ-5IC

The Cold Illucid World - Chris Danta in Styles of Extinction Continuum Books 2010
We Yevgeny Zamyatin Penguin Twentieth Century Classics 1993
Nineteen Eighty-Four George Orwell Penguin Classics 2013
Brave New World Aldous Huxley Vintage Classics 2007
http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1008&context=honors
How to Study an E.M Forster Novel Nigel Messenger Macmillan Education 1991
The Late World of Cormac McCarthy Mark Steven in Styles of Extinction Continuum
Books 2010
The Cold Illucid World Chris Danta in Styles of Extinction Continuum Books 2010
Waiting for Godot Samuel Beckett Faber and Faber 2006
Being and Nothingness Jean Paul Sartre Routledge Classics 2003