The Cabin at the End of the World

“This man’s smile is warm and wide. His face opens its curtains naturally. Wen can’t fully describe the difference between a real smile and a fake one, but she knows it when she sees it. He is not faking.”

The novel describes Leonard’s character through Wen’s narrative perspective. Wen instinctively trusts the stranger, assessing his manner and smile as authentic—unlike those of many adults she has encountered. Her viewpoint presents Leonard in a favorable light and illustrates his persuasive powers as the leader of a cultlike group.

“Redmond might as well be a cipher, a stand-in, a representative for all of them: good ole boys, frat boys, card-carrying members of the old boys’ network, hate-the-sin-love-the-sinner God-fearin’ boys; they’re all of the same species.”

Andrew’s initial impression of Redmond is that he typifies the many bigoted men Andrew has encountered during a lifetime of antigay prejudice. After Redmond’s death, Andrew becomes convinced he was O’Bannon, the man who attacked him in a bar years earlier. Tremblay maintains ambiguity surrounding Redmond’s identity throughout the text about whether he was O’Bannon or simply a “cipher” for Andrew’s traumatic experience in the bar. The passage emphasizes the novel’s theme of Subjectivity and the Impact of Personal History.

“Andrew insisted he wasn’t reacting or giving in to fear. He’d explained to Eric that the attack left him feeling unmoored; the beer bottle smashing into the back of his head broke off some part of himself that had yet to return.”

Andrew explains how a sense of powerlessness after being attacked triggered his decision to buy a gun. The gun is a recurring motif in the novel, representing two of its central themes: The Traumatic Effects of Violence and Choices and Their Consequences.

“I want you to know that. We didn’t choose this. We’re here because, just like you, we have to be. We have no choice.”

Leonard tries to persuade the family that he and his companions didn’t wish to invade their home, insisting that a higher power compelled them to do so. His claim alludes to the novel’s theme of The Nature of Faith, highlighting how abdicating responsibility plays a key role in fanaticism.

“If Leonard again insists the four of them are regular, everyday people—as though everyday people have nothing but love in their hearts and are always reasonable and have never committed atrocities in the name of their self-proclaimed everydayness—Andrew is going to scream until he can’t scream anymore.”

Throughout the novel, Leonard is eager to present his group as “normal,” relatable people. Rather than comforting the family, the contrast between the intruders’ ordinary demeanor and their actions only adds to the family’s sense of unease. Andrew reflects that Leonard’s claims are meaningless because even “everyday people” have the propensity for hatred and violence.

“He’s bigger than all the others combined and he’s bigger than the cabin itself; a conflicting, confounding size that only a child could ever equate with innate, implacable gentleness.”

One of Leonard’s distinctive features is his imposing size. On first meeting Leonard, Wen thinks of him as a giant “teddy bear,” reflecting his gentle manner. However, once his group breaks into the cabin, Leonard’s size becomes an increasingly intimidating feature, emphasizing his ability to physically overpower the family.

“He is so flummoxed and terrified he has difficulty processing exactly what Leonard is saying, and the implications and permutations of possible future outcomes to be determined in part by what he and Eric say and do next are as irretrievable as the quarks of a smashed atom.”

This passage highlights Eric’s incredulity as the intruders present their central purpose and the dilemma at the heart of the novel: They must sacrifice a family member, or humanity is doomed. Eric struggles to process the information and its ramifications, underscoring the theme of Choices and Their Consequences.

“Something shimmers in the nowhere between Redmond and the doorway to the deck. Like heat waves on summer-baked pavement, the shimmer is whiter and brighter than the surrounding solar light. Eric blinks and the strange refraction realigns, finds a focus, coalesces into a shape, a form, and for the briefest of moments there is an unmistakable contour of a head and shoulders, the outline of another person, a fourth (or another fourth) joining the semi-circle encompassing Redmond.”

During the ritual preceding the killing of Redmond, Eric sees a figure of light. Eric’s vision—which inclines him to believe the intruders’ claims—highlights the theme of Subjectivity and the Impact of Personal History. Because Eric is the only one who sees the figure, it may be a result of his concussion combined with his religious beliefs. However, the nature of the apparition remains ambiguous.

“They smile and repeatedly say her name with every known inflection, attempting to let her know they will still protect her and keep her safe despite all evidence to the contrary.”

Throughout the ordeal, Eric and Andrew prioritize protecting their daughter. However, as the situation becomes more volatile, Wen and her parents realize that this may not be possible. Wen’s accidental death later illustrates their powerlessness in the face of horror.

“She has this image of his god as all the black empty space between stars when you look up at the night sky, and this god of collected blankness is big enough to swallow the moon, the earth, the sun, the Milky Way, and big enough it couldn’t possibly care about anyone or anything.”

When Leonard explains the concept of God’s will to Wen, she tries to imagine the nature of the divine being he describes. She concludes that any god who requires the sacrifice of loved ones must be detached and indifferent to human suffering. Andrew echoes this sentiment at the end of the novel, highlighting the theme of The Nature of Faith.

“I never realized the end of the world would be kept to such a tight, regimented TV Guide schedule.”

Andrew’s sarcasm illustrates his character’s rational and defiant response to the intruders’ claims. Suspicious of Leonard’s constant time checks, Andrew implies that the group has foreknowledge of natural disasters as if they’ve scheduled their coverage or screening.

“He’d planned on telling her the truth about his scar when she was older, when she could understand. He’d irrationally hoped he could somehow put off indefinitely the future day on which she would recognize cruelty, ignorance, and injustice were the struts and pillars of the social order, as unavoidable and inevitable as the weather.”

The motif of scars represents the traumatic effects of violence. Andrew initially lies to Wen about how he acquired his scar to protect her from knowledge of societal bigotry and violence. However, the events that unfold in the cabin underscore the futility of Andrew’s attempts to shield her from the darker side of human nature.

“Online, the delusion sufferer is not told what she is experiencing is a chemical lie or the result of misfiring synapses and she is not accused of being crazy. The online groups reinforce and validate the delusions because the same thing is happening to them.”

The revelation that Leonard and his companions met on an online message board undermines their earlier claims that they were compelled by separate visions to travel to the cabin. Exploring the theme of The Nature of Faith, the novel touches on the dangers of online forums where people share delusions and fanaticism.

“Leonard checks his watch, and while he utters vague reassurances to them, he has the look of a person who knows everything is going poorly and will continue to go poorly no matter what.”

Because the family still refuses to make a sacrifice after witnessing Redmond’s death, the intruders realize that their mission is unlikely to go as planned. This passage demonstrates how Leonard continues going through the motions but is less assured in his convictions, gradually losing his authority as leader.

“The cabin, even with the benefit of the morning’s wholesome sunlight, appears worn, tired, and bereft. The paint on the door and trim is dulled and sun bleached. The wooden shingles are blemished with dots of mildew and are loose and as asymmetrical as crooked teeth. The cabin is now a haunted house, baptized by yesterday’s violence, and its passive accumulation of similarly vicious and desperate acts is as inevitable as dust gathering on the windowsills.”

This description of the cabin emphasizes the theme of The Traumatic Impact of Violence. Using figurative language, Tremblay presents the holiday home as beaten and battered by what has occurred there. Once a cozy domestic space, it has become a battle site, forever altered by human brutality.

“That Andrew finds the jar glinting sunlight and most certainly containing the dead bodies of Wen’s seven named grasshoppers seems a cruelly mocking harbinger.”

The motif of the grasshopper jar represents the cabin and its inhabitants. Andrew’s discovery of the jar baking in the sun hints at the characters’ slim chances of survival. Additionally, the sealed jar illustrates the emptiness of Leonard’s pledges to Wen. He assures the seven-year-old that he released the grasshoppers, just as he promises her that she won’t come to any harm.

“That Redmond might have had another name and assaulted Andrew (right now, he believes Andrew) shakes his faith in what he is doing here more than he has let on. But what choice does he really have at this point other than to continue […] Leonard puts his faith in the soothing power of having no choice. He reminds himself that he is only a vessel, and an imperfect one, but he fears all that has gone wrong—so terribly, horribly wrong—is his fault and his fault alone.”

Leonard’s narrative perspective reveals secret doubts about his mission’s validity. However, despite his qualms and feelings of guilt, he resolves to continue with his original course of action. His behavior illustrates the mentality of cult members who invest so heavily in their beliefs that they’re unable to admit they were wrong.

“There is more blood on the cabin floor, dark swollen ponds of it. One tributary leads away from the middle of the floor to Adriane’s body, which lies perpendicular to the screen slider.”

This description of Adriane’s dead body typifies the novel’s stark depictions of violence. Tremblay uses river metaphors to emphasize the quantity of blood covering the cabin’s floor. The vivid presentation of these visceral details highlights the theme of The Traumatic Effects of Violence.

“The flies leave Wen’s body and disperse like released spores. Eric is relieved they are leaving Wen, but their forming an indoor storm cloud is an awful sight. They swirl and they land and they creep over the walls, tables, chairs, and they crawl on Sabrina and Leonard, on their hands and their mouths and their eyes. Their unremitting buzzing sounds like it’s crackling through the muted television speakers, and theirs is an ancient message of immutable decay, rot, and of ultimate defeat.”

The mass of flies that Eric hallucinates represents the corruption and brutality that has invaded the cabin. This passage evokes an incident in Lord of the Flies when Simon (Golding’s most spiritual character) communes with a pig. A swarm of flies buzz around its head as the dead creature informs Simon of the inherent evil of human nature.

“Andrew has taught apocalyptic literature for years, calling his course This is How the World Ends. The course has occasionally included a literary analysis of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse riding their red, black, white, and pale horses.”

As an English professor, Andrew teaches students about the seductive nature of apocalyptic stories. Tremblay emphasizes how this theoretical knowledge is of little use when facing intruders who embody the Bible’s Four Horseman of the Apocalypse.

“For as long as he lives, Andrew will wonder if Eric partly blames him for Wen’s death because of his unwitting part in the hellish Rube Goldberg device that took over our lives, because he snuck the gun up to the cabin, because the gun was in his hand, because his finger was on the trigger, because he couldn’t stop the trigger from being pulled.”

Andrew’s guilt over his role in Wen’s death highlights the theme of Choices and Their Consequences. He compares the devastating domino effect of his purchasing a gun to a Rube Goldberg device—a machine that creates a complex chain reaction in order to perform a single action. The metaphor emphasizes the difficulty of predicting the consequences of seemingly inconsequential acts.

“We stand there. Now that Sabrina is the only one of them left and unarmed, we’re more afraid of what we are thinking and of what the other one is thinking. We’re afraid for each other and we’re afraid of ourselves. How can we go on?”

This passage illustrates the unusual narrative perspective that Tremblay uses in the final chapter. The joint first-person viewpoint of Andrew and Eric suggests that the couple’s shared experience of trauma has united them as one being.

“The sky is a depthless black, impossible to not attribute malignancy and malice to it as strobing flashes of lightning split it open. Wind and thunder rattle through the forest, sounding like the earth dying screaming.”

The weather conditions as Andrew and Eric escape the cabin add another layer of ambiguity to the narrative. The dark skies and raging elements could indicate the world’s imminent end or simply a storm. Like so many other elements of the story, the atmospheric conditions are open to interpretation, raising questions about the nature of the world that the couple is returning to.