Semester Award Granted
Spring 2025
Submission Date
May 2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]
Stacey Balkan
Abstract
This thesis explores the critique of petroculture seen in mid- and post-apocalyptic literature. Chapter One, “Parable of the Sower: A Pre-Apocalyptic World Planting Petrocultures Destiny” argues Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower critiques American petroculture by demonstrating the destruction and devastation society is heading for under current societal structures. Chapter Two, “The Road: The Crumbling Remains of Petroculture” argues Cormac McCarthy’s The Road critiques American petroculture through its infrastructural collapse. Chapter Three, “‘Covehithe’: A Weird, Post-Apocalyptic Story Birthing the Future of Petroculture” explores how China Miéville’s “Covehithe” employs magical realism to communicate a different view of global petroculture, one that utilizes horror to install fear in its readers. This thesis explains the start to petroleum oil’s long reign on society. I argue these pieces of literature critique petroculture through mid- and post-apocalyptic imagery and dramatize the imminent destruction of our most precious social structures.
Recommended Citation
Poirier, Cailey, "EXTRACTING THE FUTURE: AN ANALYSIS OF PETROCULTURE IN APOCALYPTIC WORKS" (2025). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 41.
https://digitalcommons.fau.edu/etd_general/41