5+5=1

Postmodern: The Road is a postmodern novel, it conforms to this genre through unexpected allusions to 70s B movies and low culture but rather than being about an invasion, the threat in The Road seems to have come from within. 

Commercial: The Road has references to current commercialism and characters trying to somehow "preserve" 21st century life, this is manifested in elements like the trolley and the coke drinking scene.

American: The Road manages to be both typically American in the sense of the journey but at the same time the nature of the journey and the subjectivity of the ending seem abnormal.


Bricolage: Cormac McCarthy's references and allusions in the road come from unexpected sources like B movies etc. this is a contributing factor to the postmodern elements in the book.


Nuclear: One of the explanations for the world's end in The Road could be nuclear war, Cormac McCarthy grew up during the cold war and the constant paranoia and threat felt during those years must have been influential in his writing.