Money And Power In World War Z By Max Brooks

1007 Words3 Pages

People must strive to be wealthy in order to be competitive in today’s very materialistic world. When one thinks of qualities that a successful person possesses, intelligence or skill should be at the top of the list, but rather wealth is the first thing that comes to mind. Despite what actual basic skills a person has, if they have money they will conclusively succeed in life. In his novel World War Z, Max Brooks uses anecdotes to criticize this unfortunate reality. Brooks creates an entire reorder of the classes. In order for the wealthy to survive the Zombie Wars, rather than relying on their money, they must rely on ordinary people. By creating these events Brooks is subsequently highlighting how having money and power is not everything. …show more content…

“Because the living dead freeze solid” (122), when word starting to get out that there were zombies, people’s first instinct was to go north. Family after family packed their belongings and ventured to campsites throughout northern Canada or wherever they felt was cold enough to escape the plague. Many people were still trying to hold on to their materialistic ways and brought “hair dryers, GameCubes, [and] laptops by the dozen” (123) with them to the campsites. These families realized very quickly that these items were not beneficial for their survival. Those that did survive the cold Canadian winters were not those who brought the most belongings, but those who had the will power to survive. As days got colder, people were forced to steal from each other, kill each other, and eventually eat each other. The only way to succeed during this brutal time was to go into this ultimate survival mode. “Eventually the sun did come out, the weather began to warm, the snow finally began to melt” and those that were left were the ones that were had the determination to survive (129).
World War Z helps readers see how the society we live in is messed up. It doesn’t make sense that, for the most part, the people that are the most successful are the ones that do the least for our society. In this novel, Max Brooks makes it so the people that are willing to work hard are the ones that survive. People that can survive on very little and will go to no end to fight the zombies succeed in this book, while the incompetent wealthy people do not. World War Z is a reminder to work hard towards what you want, rather than getting caught up in the materialistic world that we live

Show More
Related

  • Michael C. C. Adams' Book, The Best War Ever: America and World War II

    1035 Words  | 3 Pages

    Michael C. C. Adams' book, The Best War Ever: America and World War II, attempts to dispel the numerous misconceptions of the Second World War. As the title suggests, Americans came out of the war with a positive view of the preceding five turbulent years. This myth was born from several factors. Due to the overseas setting of both theaters of the war, intense government propaganda, Hollywood's glamorization, and widespread economic prosperity, Americans were largely sheltered form the brutal truth of World War II. Even to this day, the generation of World War II is viewed as being superior in morality and unity. The popular illusion held that 'there were no ethnic or gender problems, families were happy and united, and children worked hard in school and read a great number of books.' (115)

    Read More

  • What Does The Bell Jar Mean In The Great Gatsby

    698 Words  | 2 Pages

    Scott Fitzgerald respectively) and applying both the Marxist and Psychoanalytic critical theories, it’s clear to see that the race to get to the highest crest of the metaphorical food chain affects the people on the top, on the bottom, and everyone in between, which causes a divide in society and consequently forces people to adopt the mindset of “get rich or die trying,” or else their lives will amount to nothing.

    Read More

  • Werner Pfennig

    1863 Words  | 4 Pages

    When I first started reading this book I already had a certain opinion about Nazi’s and the people of Germany during WW2 times. Then, as I continued to read I started to understand that all Nazi’s were not born hateful and that they all had different lives that could have been awful or very hard. It made me also realize that all the numbers and statics that I have learned in history class about the war is more than just facts in a book. They represent a real person that had a real life. The book made me think about the indescribable position the people of Germany must have been in, because they were just blindly trusting a leader and didn’t know or couldn’t even make any decisions for themselves. The book made me think and feel the same things when I read about all the struggles the French people went through. They did not seem real to me, but now I can try to understand what they went through and appreciate everything they did to help win the war. I surprised myself at how I started to think more about how different the world would really be today if only a few unknown people had made different decisions. It gave me a better perspective on life and human nature also. Over all this book showed human nature and how no matter where you come from or what you go through we are all fighting to

    Read More

  • The Semplica Girl's Diaries Analysis

    1606 Words  | 4 Pages

    In my opinion about social class in the story and in real life is that no matter what you do, something good and something bad is going to happen no matter if you are poor, middle, or rich. When I read and understood that the neighbors are the rich people who don’t care, the narrator and his family are the middle class who are jealous, and the Semplica Girls who are poor and willing to do anything as much as possible to provide for their family, I learn that no one has the same mindset as each other. In life, there are wants and needs in the social lifestyle. That’s why when it’s the end of the world, no one isn’t going to care who’s richer. They will care who has the most supplies and resources out there. Also I believe it is the people who you know and related to that enables wealth. To get somewhere big in life, you basically need to network and sadly that’s reality. I hate to admit but I gain hope I can be successful as the rich in my life by doing it on my own. So I consider myself as the neighbor more. I just want to succeed without anyone’s opinion affecting my life, no matter what social class I am

    Read More

  • The Wars by Timothy Findley

    1192 Words  | 3 Pages

    Justification. Defined as the act of justifying something. To serve as an acceptable reason or excuse for our actions, based on actual or believed information. Throughout the history of not only the modern world, but certainly back to the “barest essentials of reason” our species have made decisions that have effectively shaped our world into what it is today. Or have not. The judgments made in the past may also have been relatively insignificant to a larger picture, but would still be important in one persons or a group of people’s day-to-day life. Either way, choices made in any way, shape, or form, are based on what the decision maker believes to be true or morally right. Timothy Findley displays the abovementioned opinion-based judgments in the novel The Wars. From the background behind the novel, to the ending scene of the main character being burned to the ground in a flaming barn, many choices are made. Whether large and important or small and insignificant, Mr. Findley asks us as readers and as humans to look into ourselves to uncover the reasoning behind the choices, as well as our own actions and the actions of our leaders. The justification for most of the aforementioned incidents in The Wars can be classified under 3 broad-based ideas: safety, self-interest or the moral/general good.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Class Divisions: Difference In Opportunities

    1118 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gregory Mantsios explains in his article “Rewards and Opportunities: The Politics and Economics of class

    Read More

  • From Wealth to Power by Fareed Zakaria

    1010 Words  | 3 Pages

    During the 1890’s the United States saw a surge in its interests abroad. Before this decade, the U.S. government never asserted their influence over foreign nations as strongly and rapidly. It was a turning point in the history of U.S. foreign policy and two scholars, Fareed Zakaria and Peter Trubowitz, provide very different explanations as to why the United States adapted a new foreign policy and acquired territory abroad in the 1890’s. These dissimilar theories use unique units of analysis to examine this period in American history that provide interesting explanations as to why this decade saw such a heightened level of U.S. influence throughout the world. Zakaria’s hypothesis, state-centered realism, better explains why the United States obtained foreign territory in the 1890’s than Trubowitz’s explanation because central decision makers hold the power to act on foreign policy where diverse regional interests throughout the United States merely help shape what the national interest in foreign policy is without holding the power to put it in action.

    Read More

  • On War by Carl Von Clausewitz

    1315 Words  | 3 Pages

    Amongst military theorists and practitioners who studied war, its origin and implications, Carl von Clausewitz assumes a place among the most prominent figures. With his book On War, he demonstrated his capability to provide thorough historical analysis and conclusions of the conflicts in which he was engaged, and as a philosopher he reflected about all encompassing aspects of war. Today, Western armies conduct modern warfare in a dynamic environment composed of flexible and multiple threats in which civilians form a substantial part. Studying Clausewitz provides current military and political leadership useful insights to understand twenty-first century warfare. He explains the nature of war, provides an analytical tool to understand the chaos of warfare, and he argues for well educated and adaptable leadership capable of creative thinking. Although he died before his work was complete, his writing style was ambiguous and unclear at some moments, and current technology reduced some of his tactics obsolete, his work still arouses and inspires military and political strategists and analysts.

    Read More

  • World War II Economic Analysis

    1765 Words  | 4 Pages

    World War II greatly impacted America and helped improve the economic condition of the country as a whole. Though this was a time of economic improvement for this nation, the United States was still faced with national security concerns that needed to be addressed in order for America to stay in its secure place of power within the international world order at this time. In order to ensure their national security, the United States implemented unique economic strategies in order to influence political changes and increase security both for themselves as well as the world; they implemented what Robert Blackwill and Jennifer Harris refer to in their article The Lost Art of Economic Statecraft as geoeconomics or the “economic instruments to

    Read More

  • Greed For Power And Its Consequences In Things Fall Apart By John Hersey

    1199 Words  | 3 Pages

    Conflicts between nations and cultures have always been present throughout history causing dispute both internally and externally. Both novels Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe and Hiroshima by John Hersey display the effects of Western invasion into both Africa and Japan. These books were centered on first hand accounts of those who suffered the consequences of these invasions. Things Fall Apart demonstrates the impact of western colonizers into Africa centered through the story of Okonkwo. This is considered the first modern African novel demonstrating when British colonizers came into Africa to change their current culture and religion to civilize them. Hiroshima focuses on six survivors to put names

    Read More

  • Zombie Apocalyptic Environment

    1048 Words  | 3 Pages

    When thinking more in depth towards the psychological transitioning from a normal way of living into a society that has humans on a constant edge as they strive for survival, The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman displays a realistic vision of human survival within a zombie apocalyptic environment. I look to evaluate our current society in its normal habitat like our societal norms, our usual daily routines, and then values. Next, is the transition into a zombie apocalyptic environment where the originality of an individual is removed by the zombie-disease. Zombies are then regarded as empty vessels controlled by natural instincts. There is a common theme involving loss of self to those who’ve fallen victim to the zombies and those who strive

    Read More

  • The Great War Analysis

    1034 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Great War was the first occurrence in written history to produce such an outpouring of first person testimony about the events of the war by first person observers. For many years, historians distanced themselves from analyzing and questioning the documents produced by these observers of history and just left them at their word. It was not until more recent history that historians have started to question the accounts provided in a scholastic manner of examination. Audoin-Rouzeau and Becker argue that these first person accounts should be taken with a grain of salt because the reader, and the historian for that matter, must remember that trauma such as war has a profound effect on memory, thus these accounts should not necessarily be taken

    Read More

  • Racism, Prejudice And Racial Discrimination

    577 Words  | 2 Pages

    Being wealthy gives you the power to do everything, and to get away with everything. For example, on February 20th 2017, Ryan Steeves, one of the teacher assistance, was giving a presentation, Ethnicity, Economy, and Politics, and he talked about how power and social class all related. The Banana Republics videos on the presentation shows us a great example of how power and social class rules the society. There were three main fruit companies, United Fruit Co., Cuyamel Fruit Co., and Vaccaro Bros., they were the rulers of everything and they made the decisions because they had a lot of money. For example, the company of Cuyamel killed the Honduras president because they gave some of its land to the Cuyamel’s competitors. Moreover, they convinced the United States that Honduras was trying to be communist, so the US killed the president of Honduras, again. Being wealthy, high social class, and power are all connected and it is how society

    Read More

  • Comparison of Film and Book 1984

    516 Words  | 2 Pages

    The war contributed to making the working class society believe that they were doing they’re part in helping “Big Brother” stop corruption and keeping the society in an orderly state. Big Brother manipulated the society by making up a war using previous pictures and images of a war that happened years ago. The war was also used to erase existing history that the government did not want the society to know. Furthermore, the war was used to keep the government and economy as the basis of power and maintain the balance of “Big Brother’s civilization”. The war mentioned in the film and book led to a conformed and controlled society.

    Read More

  • No Middle Class Essay

    1069 Words  | 3 Pages

    It the world we live in today, everything is about money whether you realize it or not. People are getting greedier, trying to find a way to increase their wealth constantly. Sometimes people do this at the risk of other people; in seek of their own “happiness.” Food, clothes, transportation, bills, and so much more all require money of some sort. Adriana Delgado says, “The vast differences between the rich and the poor, the powerful and the powerless, will be the catalyst for the best intentions to be rewarded with ungratefulness and contempt, creating resentment and mistrust between the classes.” This line quoted by Delgado shows how power is related directly to money. When she refers to the classes, there are the 3 well known classes: the lower or poor, the middle or

    Read More

More about Money And Power In World War Z By Max Brooks

Open Document