The unexpectedly hopeful ending of “The Last Man” suggests that all disasters — however threatening to particular individuals or countries — are ultimately about humanity’s responsibility to the world as a whole.

In the current state of the world with the pandemic raging, it can be helpful to look towards science fiction as a place for hope not just despair.  Even though many short stories and novels supply us with end of the world scenarios and messages, others like “The Last Man” by Mary Shelley can serve as a reminder that we need to stay connected to others, with the hope that we can get through this together.  We have a responsibility to humanity as a whole to attack this not with fear, but with “an attitude of hope and collective problem-solving.”

It is also interesting to note that this book was written in 1826 and appeared as one of the first post-apocalyptic stories written.  The world looked very different then than it does now; however, deep-rooted political, social and economic systems have not changed drastically enough that the impacts of the plague did not cause similar impacts within society.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/13/opinion/mary-shelley-sc-fi-pandemic-novel.html