The nuclear attacks isolate Fort Repose and other cities from the rest of the country. With basic services out of commission, individuals soon rely on their survival instincts. Randy knows that civilization only thrives in times of prosperity. Adversity threatens social order and the need for survival leads to violence. The war brings out the best in some characters, but gives others—such as the highwaymen—an excuse to indulge in their worst proclivities.

Animal metaphors convey the moral message that when people take disaster as an opportunity and are willing to profit from the pain and deprivation of others, they are effectively no longer human. After the highwaymen rob Dan, Randy “felt nauseated, not at the sight of Dan’s injuries—he had seen worse—but in disgust at the beasts who in callous cruelty had dragged down and maimed and destroyed the human dignity of this selfless man. Yet it was nothing new. It had been like this at some point in every civilization and on every continent. There were human jackals for every human disaster” (326). Randy sees these characters as restrained jackals so long as the leash of civilization threatens them with the consequences of their actions.