1. One of the most prominent ways in which the contents of the novel suggest that the post-apocalyptic world is the result of nuclear war is in the ubiquitous presence of ash. The man and boy are explained to be ‘shuffling through the ash’, taking into account that often the most identifiable effect of nuclear weapons is destruction mainly through burning suggests that perhaps the extent of ash is a remnant of widespread destruction stemming from the detonation of a nuke. Also, when the man and boy pass through the city, it is described as ‘mostly burnt’. This follows on from the supposed origins of the ash: burning caused by a bomb, for an area as large as a city to be noticeably burnt can only point to one source, a nuclear warhead; furthermore in the occurrence of a nuclear war its likely metropolitan areas would make prime targets for weapons of mass destruction.

2. By assuming that a bomb was the cause and comparing it with the horrors experienced by those in the novel it seems the main message McCarthy is trying to convey is one of anti-war. In times of disaster or war, often statistics play an overbearing role in reports about such events, but by focusing on two ordinary characters McCarthy shows just how devastating war can be on individuals. Additionally the depiction of a complete breakdown of society and values as we know them suggests that war can not only do great damage to particular groups of people but is detrimental to a nation in its entirety. Overall I think the themes present in the book and the traumatic events the reader is exposed to are a reflection of McCarthy’s fervent anti-war sentiment.

3. Keeping in line with some of the Christian themes in the book the description of a scorched landscape covered in ash might be the aftermath of an apocalyptic event (i.e. ‘fire and brimstone’) in which most of the world which didn’t live up to Judeo-Christian ideas about morality. Also the Bible espouses that ash is the source of life and the manifestation of the finality of death (ashes to ashes, dust to dust) which suggests that a prosperous country had reached the pinnacle of development was forcibly returned to its humble origins. The reference to a deficiency in ‘godspoke men’ is presumably a reference to the breakdown of organised religion as such and the patrons who represent it which ergo presents the man and boy as some sort of forsaken sinners who weren’t rescued before the onset of the apocalypse.