Richard Matheson's I Am Legend: Morality

When tough decisions are brought up there is a thin line between right and wrong when it comes to morality. Morales are principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behavior. While we have been reading Richard Matheson’s novel, I Am Legend we have been discussing the morality of Robert Neville’s actions and decisions about his own survival. From one perspective, Neville must do whatever it takes to ensure his own survival and therefore his actions do not concern whether he is right or wrong as long as he lives. The other perspective would be that Neville does not only have to answer to himself for his actions, but others might consider him to be a monster without any morality that will kill and harm any creature. Robert Neville emphasizes both ideas of a hero and a monster. The hero is …show more content…
Matheson states, “Slowly the heat of the liquor expanded in his stomach and reached his body…His house was a dead house. Fury exploded in him. Enough! His rage-palsied hands ripped out the clothes from the bureau drawer until they closed on the loaded pistols…He watched their bodies jerk as bullets struck them…” (35-36). After becoming a little tipsy, Neville becomes triggered by the realization that Ben Cortman and the rest of his vampire goons destroyed the generator fueling his house. Neville going after the vampires during the nighttime while they are already outside is futile and he knows this. The anger is supplied by his dependency towards alcohol. At night there are endless amounts of vampires outside that need to be shot with a high-level accuracy to debilitate. Attacking them was caused by a clouded judgment do to alcohol and paint Neville to be a monster in his own right. The plot depicts him senselessly killing the vampires in a fit a rage with zero outcome other than being set back by losing missing