The Last Man story

shortstory: The Last Man (1929) · 1929-02 · Wallace G. West

The evolutionary descendants of the human race keep a man as a curiosity to behold.

14 total · 7 major · 7 minor

ThemeLevelMotivation
atrophied civilization major The people in this society did not know how to maintain, let alone improve upon, the machines that they depended to sustain their existence, and it was made clear that their civilization was doomed as a result.
human vs. captivity major M-1, who was the last man on Earth, was kept in a glass display case in a dusty museum.
single-gender society major The story is set in a future where Earth is populated by a race of sexless people who had evolved from human females.
start-over utopia major M-1 (the last man) and Eve (the last woman) escaped from an atrophied, and gloomily mechanistic society with the goal of rebooting humanity.
synthetic food major That chemists had figured out how to synthesize food out of inorganic matter was emphasized multiple times.
the future of human evolution major The story is set in a future where the women of Earth killed all the men, reproduced human life using technology, and evolved into "sexless, tall, angular, narrow-hipped, flat-breasted and unbeautiful" beings as a result.
what if I was held captive and made an exhibition object major M-1, who was the last man on Earth, was kept in a glass display case in a dusty museum.
domed city minor M-1's city was covered by a miles wide "glassy shield" which was penetrated by the tops of skyscrapers.
food pill minor Food laboratories produced food pills, among other synthetic foods (e.g. chemically manufactured soup), for consumption.
genocide minor It was mentioned that the men of the world had been exterminated by "ambitious females" at some point in history.