The Cabin at the End of the World

A fall in action occurs in Chapter 5 as the author depicts the emotional aftermath of Wen’s accidental death. The Traumatic Effects of Violence becomes a central theme as Tremblay conveys the characters’ grief, shock, and guilt while attempting to process the tragedy. In addition, this chapter introduces the theme of Choices and Their Consequences. Up to this point in the narrative, the ramifications of Andrew and Eric’s decisions have been uncertain. While Leonard claims the couple is causing apocalyptic events by failing to make a sacrifice, the proof is questionable. However, Wen’s death forces Andrew to directly confront an unforeseen outcome of his actions. Tremblay emphasizes the chain of decisions that led Andrew to this point, from his original decision to buy a gun to his impulse to bring it on vacation and his retrieving the weapon from the SUV. Andrew’s initial decision to acquire a firearm was a result of his feeling vulnerable after surviving a brutal attack, again highlighting the long-lasting impact of violence.

Tremblay demonstrates how violence begets violence as, after Wen’s death, Andrew assaults Leonard, tries to shoot him, and is tempted to bludgeon him to death. Overwhelmed by the desire for vengeance, he feels “[t]he gaping pit of grief and rage demands to be filled with this act” (215). The text reveals Andrew’s gradual inurement to violence when he argues that he has already shot Adriane; therefore, killing again has little consequence. Eric must remind him of the moral distinction between self-defense and murdering someone tied to a chair.

The novel presents Wen’s death as both futile and ironic. While Andrew, Eric, and Leonard all wanted to protect Wen, both parties are responsible for her demise. By introducing a weapon to the volatile situation, Andrew unintentionally illustrates the dangers of guns—as he and Eric emphasized when they insisted that Wen never touch the firearm. Through the novel’s scar motif, the text highlights Andrew’s desire to shield his daughter from violence and his ultimate powerlessness to do so. Andrew lies to Wen about the cause of his injury to conceal the grim reality of antigay hatred. However, the events in the cabin expose his story of a childhood baseball as a lie. Likewise, Leonard unwittingly deceives Wen when he promises that she’ll be unharmed. His vow to protect her proves as insubstantial as his assurance that he released the grasshoppers from the jar. Leonard’s assertion that Wen’s accidental shooting may not “count” as a willing sacrifice only underscores the pointlessness of her death.

For the first time, the novel delves into the perspective of the intruders, giving insight into Leonard and Sabrina’s thoughts. The text portrays Sabrina as deeply conflicted, alternating between belief and disbelief in her former convictions. Tremblay depicts her character as torn between her emerging conscience and the desire to continue abdicating responsibility to a higher power. Leonard’s point of view reveals his sorrow and self-disgust after Wen’s death. Like Sabrina, his convictions are shaken by a growing belief in Andrew’s assertion that Redmond was O’Bannon. However, Leonard is so deeply invested in his apocalyptic claims that he feels compelled to continue. The figurative comparison of Leonard to “King Kong after the swan dive off the Empire State Building” (212) highlights his physical and psychological diminishment. Again, the text foreshadows characters’ deaths when Leonard and Sabrina each make contact with the yellow lamp.

Tremblay reverts to imagery evoking William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. Eric’s hallucination of a “storm cloud” of flies in the cabin reflects his psychological fragility. The sight and sound of the insects likewise highlight the violence and corruption that has invaded his family’s world. Eric’s interpretation of the flies’ buzzing as “an ancient message of immutable decay, rot, and of ultimate defeat” (211-12) recalls Simon’s encounter with a dead pig in Lord of the Flies. In Golding’s novel, the pig’s head is surrounded by flies (representing corruption), and Simon believes that the head talks to him about the innate evil of human nature. Eric’s bleak vision of moral decay starkly contrasts with the novel’s opening lines, in which Wen embodies childhood innocence.