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Earth Abides is classic 1949 novel by George R. Stewart, which depicts the new tribal society which slowly arises in (the ruins of) Berkeley, California after most of humanity is wiped out by a viral plague. Features much rumination about ecology and human society. One of the first of the Cosy Catastrophe genre, and a major influence on Stephen King's novel The Stand.
Contains examples of:[]
- All Hail the Great God Mickey: One character knows that the ruins of the cities and bridges were built by people called "the Americans". He then wonders if the land and skies were built by the older Americans depicted on coins.
- A society formed by the descendants of black sharecroppers still offers sacrifices of cotton to long-dead white landlords, though the sharecroppers themselves have no use for it.
- Apocalypse How[Explain]
- Chekhov's Gun: Hiking in the Sierra Nevada Mountains researching for a paper he's writing, Isherwood Williams finds a hammer left by miners. He keeps it the whole time, and eventually the children of the tribe he founds see it as a holy relic and the symbol of leadership.
- Did Not Do the Research: Stewart has his protagonists continuing to eat canned goods after they've gone over - some canned goods continue to be edible for a long time, though they're not particularly palatable. Also gasoline has a shelf life, too.
- As long as the can retains its integrity, canned goods can last more than a century (although their flavor and texture will leave something to be desired, they'll retain their nutrient content and remain safe to eat). And the leaded gasoline used in the 1940s had a much longer shelf-life than modern gasoline (although corrosion from the container it's held in will lead to contamination). The belts, seals, and tires in the vehicles Ish salvages...not so much. After about five years there should be nothing left driveable in this world even assuming the gasoline was usable.
- New Eden
- No Bikes in the Apocalypse: When the cars are gone, they hoof it.
- Only the Chosen May Wield: To his surprise, Ish's hammer ends becoming this.
- The Plague[Explain]
- Ruptured Appendix: Averted. When Isherwood lists things going in his favor for the apocalypse, the fact that he's already had his appendix out is #1.
- Scavenger World[Explain]
- Slept Through the Apocalypse: The protagonist was hiking in the Sierra Nevada Mountains at the novel's opening, gets laid low by a rattlesnake bite, and returns to find the world has ended. The novel suggests that it was the snakebite itself that allowed Ish to survive the plague (while recovering from the bite, he suffers measle-like symptoms, and the plague is described as a kind of super-measles).
- Time Marches On: They name every year that passes, by the time the book ends it's into what would be the 1980's, not that anyone's keeping track.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: Isherwood.