The Baby on the Spit

This episode was particularly unsettling because of how inhumane and unexpected it was. After the people are described previously, the fact there is a pregnant woman could symbolise how people are still trying to be good and create new life and fix the world, but the baby roasting on the spit discovery is so cruel and distressing. To make it so unusual, the author has presented it in a very matter of fact way and has not approached the situation as unusual, so when the reader reads it, they are not expecting it to be something of such cruelty and heartlessness as cooking an infant. 
The lengths that the people will go to for survival - getting pregnant, purely to eat your own young for one meal - shows the desperation and difficulty to survive that they will literally try anything to heighten their chances of survival. 
The relationship between the man and boy here is somewhat improving, as the man shows emotion towards the boy when he sees the dead baby, saying "I'm sorry, he whispered. I'm sorry", showing great remorse for the fact that the boy has had to see what he's seen. The fact that he whispers shows a softness in his voice and gives a affectionate, paternal feel to their relationship and shows that he really does care about the boy, he just has a peculiar way of showing it. 
During this episode they come across a man sat on a porch, dead for years. This tells the reader that the way the world is has been like that for years, as before we don't really get a clear indication of time passing or how long it has been this way. I think this episode is a key episode and it particularly stood out for me in the book because of the sheer brutality and violence of it, it is not until now that we really see how far people are willing to go, even sacrificing family, for survival.