This article analyzes the book Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes and the movie The Road, exploring the themes of society, government, and survival in a post-apocalyptic world.
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Running head: QUEST FOR WISDOM Quest for Wisdom Name of the Student Name of the University Author Note
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1QUEST FOR WISDOM In the book Leviathan in 1651, British philosopher Thomas Hobbes had instructed many things regarding the society and life of common people about what would become of society without the presence of Government. In the book, Hobbes wrote down that the situation would be called‘the state of nature’. There would be no constraints by the Government officials and everybody would try to gain their rights through battle or war (Oakeshott, 2017). In the book, Hobbes has discussed the fact society is a group of people residing under the control of sovereign Government. In the film The Road, this aspect has been displayed in different manner. The movie,The Roadwas released in the year 2009. The director of the movie was John Hillcoat. In the book Leviathan, it has been argued several times that the only way to attain peace within civil society is to establish a commonwealth government that will take care of all the needs of the human beings. In the movie The Road, this idea has been reverberated. The term ‘leviathan’ signifies a huge human being who is developed from bodies of all citizens in the world (Oakeshott, 2017). The word‘fire’is a very crucial factor for all human beings in this context. Other than that it can be said that this fire is the only thing that keeps people alive. The fire in the human beings is real and it is burning inside them only. Everyone in the world needs to see this movie because it has brought out several heartbreaking images for the audience. The story of the movie is set in the world after apocalypse. The civil society seems to have broken down and people have no idea what is lying in front of them in this situation (Bell Jr, 2019).
2QUEST FOR WISDOM The two central characters of this movie are a man named Viggo Mortensen and his son named Kodi Smit-McPhee. Their only intention is to try to keep civilization alive in this world. They find everything has changed and people have become savage. In this quest, they remember that famous Latin proverb‘Homo homini lupus est’that means human beings are wolves to each other. They have become violent and their savage behavior has affected the lives of others since they tried to make that man and his son as slaves. Somehow they managed to escape that situation (Collier, 2012). They gave their best to survive in that post-apocalyptic world when they went towards the sea and scavenge on whatever food they got. In the plot of the movie, the man and his son discovered a place where they could find canned foods and water supplies. When they went on they found an old man who was almost blind (Mavri, 2013). In the persuasion of his son, Viggo Mortensen began to share the food with him. If the plot of Leviathan book can be compared with this scene, it can be said that this is only the responsibility of the Government to provide food, shelter and medicine to poor and ailing people (Collier, 2012). The absence of mutual faith and trust was almost obsolete during the plot development of the movie (Kaldor, 2013).While these incidents went on, the man shot down an archer with his flare gun. Both the parties thought they were following each other but no one went for a talk before applying their weapons. These things often happen when civil society breaks down. In fact, people lose faith on each other and begin to doubt everybody. The man, Viggo Mortensen died when he got very
3QUEST FOR WISDOM weak and could not resist the deterioration of his condition(Bell Jr, 2019).While he was dying he motivated his son to go on for the search of civilization. It was of utmost importance for them to find a civilized society where they could have their protected rights and do not have to fight with each other to earn it. According to Hobbes, Leviathan book thus explains the significance of setting up a commonwealth government for the sake of common people (Søfting, 2013). When civilization is gone, people do not have any option left than protective violence since this is the only way how people can get their rights. Hospitality cannot be the way open if there is no civilization in the society. Humans do become wolves in this manner to achieve what they deserve. Keeping the fire reveals the intention to carry on with the search for civilization. Anyhow, civil society protected by the Government assuring rights for individuals is the best way to live.
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4QUEST FOR WISDOM Reference List Bell Jr, D. M. (2019). State and civil society.The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Political Theology, 457-472. Collier, S. J. (2012). Neoliberalism as big Leviathan, or…? A response to Wacquant and Hilgers.Social Anthropology,20(2), 186-195. Kaldor, M. (2013).Global civil society: An answer to war. John Wiley & Sons. Mavri, K. (2013). Cormac McCarthy’s The Road Revisited: Memory and Language in Post- Apocalyptic Fiction.Sic: časopis za književnost, kulturu i književno prevođenje, (2-Year 3), 0-0. Oakeshott, M. (2017). Introduction to Leviathan. InThomas Hobbes(pp. 3-76). Routledge. Søfting, I. A. (2013). Between Dystopia and Utopia: The Post-Apocalyptic Discourse of Cormac McCarthy's The Road.English Studies,94(6), 704-713.