Our Zombies Ourselves Summary

In del Toro and Hogan's “Vampires Never Die,” the authors discuss the history of vampires and how the perception of vampires today has changed from the past. Similarly, in Parker’s “Our Zombies, Ourselves,” the author discusses the history of zombies and the modern perspective of zombies. Although these stories are similar by some means, they are also very different. While some differences between “Vampires Never Die” and “Our Zombies, Ourselves” are the main modern concern, death persecution, and writing style, the similarities are the origin is stated, modern technology is mentioned, and the allusions in literary terms.
When comparing the readings “Vampires Never Die” and “Our Zombies, Ourselves” a similarity between the two texts are both include the origin of each folklore.

For instance, in del Toro and Hogan’s “Vampires Never Die,” the origin of the vampire is addressed when the text states, “The vampire may originate from a repressed memory we had as primates... at some point -out of necessity- cannibalistic” (del Toro and Hogan 336). This origin claims the creation of the vampire phenomenon is simply repressed memories of early humans that were cannibalistic due to survival needs.

Although this may not be the definite origin, the reader is still provided with a possible origin. Likewise, in Parker’s text “Our Zombies, Ourselves,” the origin is addressed when the text states “His origins...are in Caribbean folk nightmares. For the people of Haiti, the zombi was one who had died and been buried, only to be malignantly revived and enslaved…” (Parker 343). Furthermore, this quote states the origin of the zombie was created from a folktale in Haiti of a person dying, coming back to life, and then being forced into slavery. Therefore, the first similarity between the two texts is the authors stating the origin. In addition, another similarity between the two texts is an allusion. An allusion is an indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical or literary significance. For example, in del Toro and Hogan’s text, the authors state, “In the vampire we find Eros and Thanatos fused together…” (del Toro and Hogan 338). In Greek mythology, Eros is the god of love and Thanatos is the god of death. With that being said, the authors use an allusion when indirectly referring to

Greek mythology literature by comparing vampires to the action or responsibility of gods. Similarly, Parker’s text includes an allusion when the article states, “A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many…” (Parker 342) referring to Parker’s belief that the mind of a zombie is being “evacuated.” This quote comes from the poem The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot when addressing the mythology theme of post war destruction and despair. Because the author does not directly address the quote comes from a literary work, this makes this example an allusion. In conclusion, similarities between the two text include the origin and an allusion.
Although these texts are similar for stating the origin and having an allusion, there are also many differences between the two texts. For instance, in del Toro and Hogan’s text, one key aspect of the text is the change of the perspective of vampires today. The authors believe vampires today are only seeking eternal love. This is noted when the text states, “[T]he vampire does not seek to obliterate us... the vampire transforms our vile, mortal selves into the gold of eternal youth... if youth is desire married with unending possibility...” (del Toro and Hogan 336). Furthermore, the new idea about vampires is that eternal love is the main goal of vampires, not to destroy the human race. In comparison, Parker's text mainly addresses the perspective of the way zombies look and how it has changed. This factor is not listed in just one part of the text but throughout the whole article. However, one example of the change in look is when the author states, “Romero was laying down the new canons of zombiehood; the wobbliness of the zombie, the terrible mobility of the virus…” (Parker 344). This quote explains how a writer is making his own variations to a zombie such as wobbling and the virus of the living dead reviving those killed by zombies and thus becoming zombies. Given examples from both texts, it is clear to see the authors of both texts have different views of how perspective is changed. Additionally, the authors of these texts do not use the same writing style. Del Toro and Hogan’s text has a more formal approach due to the careful structure and word choice. For example, del Toro and Hogan use carefully planned out pauses, such as, “Tonight, you or someone you love will likely be visited by a vampire- on cable television or the big screen, or the bookstore” (del Toro and Hogan 335). This level of curiosity and the reveal proves a thought out proposal to get readers engaged with no informal word choice. That being said, this quote indicates formal writing. On the contrary, Parker uses more informal writing such as the statement, “[I]t’s the zombie, Old Reliable, who’s really bringing home the bacon” (Parker 343). First, Parker should have used “it is” instead of “it’s” and “who is” instead of “who’s” in terms of formal writing. Also, Parker uses the cliche “...bringing home the bacon” (Parker 343) that could be worded in a more formal manner such as “bringing in revenue.” Furthermore, the authors of the two texts do not use the same writing style.
While some differences between “Vampires Never Die” and “Our Zombies, Ourselves” are the origin being stated and the literary allusions, the differences are the death perspective and the writing style of the authors. In del Toro and Hogan's “Vampires Never Die,” the authors discuss the history of vampires and how the perception of vampires has changed over time. Similarly, in Parker’s “Our Zombies, Ourselves,” the author discusses the history of zombies and the past and modern perspective of zombies. Although these stories are similar by some means, they are also different by some means. In conclusion, the texts “Vampires Never Die” and “Our Zombies, Ourselves” are relatively similar texts when it comes summarizing the history of the fork lores with the exception of some small differences.