"The End of the World" is a work from 1966-1967, written after the major successes that made the author globally known.

The theme revolves around the miserable lives of three insignificant people: Lot, Myrtle, and Chick. The young Lot enters into a hasty marriage with a blonde salesgirl, Myrtle, whom he meets at a television show, and the two return to his parental home, located in the Mississippi floodplain, where Chick, Lot's mixed-race half-brother, resides.

Weak and homosexual, Lot is contrasted with the healthy, masculine Chick, and in between them is the pawn, Myrtle. The entire play unfolds over a few hours, with Lot remaining in an upstairs room, while Myrtle pretends to go about her business but is actually succumbing to Chick's charm.

In the finale, Lot dresses in his mother's dress, descends the stairs, and dies in front of the two, while shortly thereafter, the house is flooded by the river, and Chick pulls Myrtle up to the roof to save themselves.