The Book of Eli

The Book of Eli begins very similar to all post-end of world stories--man searching for food, stealing shoes off those departed, taking pleasure in those familiar things like music. What would life really be like?
Lonely.
As much as we like to be within our own thoughts, we relish human contact--whether in crowds or our own home. Reading Stephen King's newest gargantuan novel- Under the Dome--the world reacts to suddenly being under a dome. Some are in and some are out. I'm pondering which I would prefer. Regardless--whichever one I would end up I would probably want the other. But isn't that what life is truly about? Choices? Lack of making a choice is still a choice. And then learning to live with them? So in these post worlds--do we choose to be lonely? Or are we simply not making a choice and accepting the easiest path?
I'd like to believe that I would want to continue to exist if our world drastically changed such as in Book of Eli, Mad Max, Under the Dome, but I'm not sure. I've explained to my students many times that I hope this isn't the end. If the life we are living right now is the end we've been fooled. But, alas, I have faith and even with the world being minimized to a technological fiasco, I still believe there's more.
The one consistent factor in all of the works mentioned? Someone begins to care for someone else and would give up the world for him/ her. No longer are they lonely. In fact, they are willing to give up what is best of themselves for someone else.

Mary EK Schneider