Skip to content

By then all stores of food had given out and murder was…

“By then all stores of food had given out and murder was everywhere upon the land. The world soon to be largely populated by men who would eat your children in front of your eyes and the cities themselves held by cores of blackened looters who tunneled among the ruins and crawled from the rubble…” quote by Cormac McCarthy
Download Open image
““By then all stores of food had given out and murder was everywhere upon the land. The world soon to be largely populated by men who would eat your children in front of your eyes and the cities themselves held by cores of blackened looters who tunneled among the ruins and crawled from the rubble white tooth and eye carrying charred and anonymous tins of food in nylon nets like shoppers in the commissaries of hell. The soft black talc blew through the streets like squid ink uncoiling along a sea floor...””

Cormac McCarthy

About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

He paints a bleak post‑apocalyptic world where scarcity drives horror and survival.

In simple terms: A devastated world forces desperate, violent behavior.

Key Takeaway

Prepare for societal collapse and protect community.

Themes

survival apocalypse scarcity violence humanity

Mood

grim despair cautionary

Type

literary philosophical

When to use this quote

  • Emergency planning
  • resource management
  • community building

Key Concepts

Post‑apocalyptic literature social decay psychology of fear

Questions to Reflect On

  • How do societies rebuild after catastrophe?
  • What moral choices arise in extreme scarcity?
A Different Perspective

The vision may be hyperbolic, ignoring resilience.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet

More by Cormac McCarthy

Explore all 927 Cormac McCarthy quotes

More Ur Eyes quotes

Browse all 7,762 Ur Eyes quotes