Alas, Babylon Character Actions

*Authors Note
-This is a response to a writing assignment on our current novel

-Alas, Babylon is set in the time period of the Cold War (1945-1991).  For those of you who don't know what the Cold War is, it was basically an era of hostility between the US and the Soviet Union, where each threatened to attack each others territory with nuclear weapons.

 In Alas, Babylon, the novel I have chosen for our next assignment,  the main character's name is Randy.  He's 32 years old, and is well known for his drinking habits, his player-like style, and most of all, his time running for mayor, in which he was shot down, the overall ratio of votes 5 to 1.  But in the first chapter of the book, Randy learns a terrible secret.  The Soviet Union is really following through this time.  They're going to launch a nuclear attack.  His brother Mark, who works in military, has told him this and sent his children and wife to live with Randy, because Randy lives in a place farther away from any major targets of the Soviet Union's attack.   Of course, Randy can't tell anybody about this, because if the people believe him, it will spark a nationwide panic.  If he tells anyone, it could also get his brother Mark killed for sharing the information, as it was highly classified. 
When Randy learns about the horrible fate of his country, he immediately goes to the store and stocks up on as much food and other necessities as possible, for him and his brother's family.  I think that this was a smart move on his part, because without food they'd survive maybe a week at the most.  I believe that his actions say that he wants to survive, needs to survive, if not for him, for Mark's family.  This is very important, because even though I've only just started the book, I have a feeling the theme might be survival.