Literal Summary of Matheson’s Original Story Reflecting the fears of the MGTOW movement, the quasi-men eventually use a woman to entrap and “cancel” the last real man.Ģ. Ultimately, he is so reviled and feared by the moderate “quasi-men,” who reject the polar extremes of men and un-men, that he must be eliminated as a destabilizing threat to their new society. In particular, Matheson’s protagonist is immune to the pervasive ideologically infectious “wokeness” that transforms almost everyone else into “un-men,” which leaves him the equivalent of a modern socially and sexually isolated “men going their own way” (MGTOW) monk or “involuntary celibate” (Incel).
In our interpretation, Matheson’s “last man” is not literally the last man but rather the last real man, who is so socially and sexually isolated and feared for his “toxic” views and behaviors that he is seen as an intolerable “monster” in a rapidly evolving modernity. As such, it foreshadows several current social issues and movements affecting and involving men. Richard Matheson’s 1954 book, I Am Legend, reflects the zeitgeist of post-war traditional White men and their anxieties over what is, in effect, the beginning of a sociopolitical collapse of patriarchal hegemony. This includes his sexual frustration and reactive violence which reflects the misogyny exhibited by the Incel movement and his ultimate manipulation and betrayal by a woman which reflects the fears of the MGTOW movement. He experiences the same loss of control, powerlessness, alienation, and estrangement experienced by many so-called “traditional” White men today.
In our interpretation, Matheson’s last real man is immune to the ideologically infectious “wokeness” that transforms almost everyone else into “un-men,” leaving him the equivalent of a modern socially and sexually isolated “MGTOW monk” or “Incel.” He is so feared for his “toxic” views and behaviors by the emerging ideologically moderate “quasi-men,” that he must be “cancelled” along with the equally extreme un-men as destabilizing threats to the new society. We interpret I Am Legend as a metaphor for the sociopolitical collapse of patriarchal hegemony, and as foreshadowing several contemporary issues and movements affecting and involving men.
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