In Colson Whitehead’s Zone One, the author reveals that humans are not so different from zombies in post apocalyptic New York. Both groups return to a position that was familiar to them in their previous existence and in this way both attempt to restore their past. Through the observations of Mark Spitz, a man representative of what is average or normal for humanity, Whitehead reveals the reaction how people of differing pasts react to the unavoidable apocalypse brought on by the zombie menace. Similarly, Spitz explains the nature of the zombies during the apocalypse through a few of his first hand encounters with the undead as well as focusing on the life he speculates each of the monsters lived before they turned. This creates a difference in the analysis of each group because Spitz is able to give a more detailed account of the behavior displayed by humans. Whitehead shows that while humans and zombies have separate intentions in the post apocalyptic world, both find a sense of normality by recreating their past.
Inside the close confines of one of the many safe zones survivors created in the post apocalyptic world, Spitz is able to observe the similar actions of several humans at the same time. While reflecting on the survivors in the same camp as Spitz, Whitehead reveals, “In the chow line, Mark Spitz’s fellow reconstruction drones trembled and tic’d like contestants in some deplorable PASD beauty contest” (171). The author refers to the reconstruction process that humanity is working towards, showing that the survivors are trying to rebuild the old world or something similar in order to escape the zombie menace. He also describes the survivors as drones, suggesting that humanity has regressed to mindless beings working towar...
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...red in the past before they were infected.
Given, there textual evidences, Whitehead demonstrates that by returning to a point that reminds them of there past, humans and zombies are not so different form one another. Humans try to reacquire a sense of normality by reconstructing the old world in hopes of returning to the safe lives they lived before the zombie apocalypse. Similarly, the zombies return to the cities that they populated when they were alive as they mindlessly conform to the normal behaviors they took part in while alive. The story of Spitz and his struggle to survive in the post apocalyptic world shows the dangers of searching for a normal life and living in the past. However, through his observations it is also revealed that this inevitable progression towards normality is what keeps humanity alive, it is what keeps them from truly becoming zombies.
While there are differences between Francis Ford Coppola’s film, Apocalypse Now!, and Joseph Conrad novel, The Heart of Darkness, Kurtz and his influence on the main character remain very similar. Both the movie and novel depict a protagonist’s struggle to travel upstream in a ship in search of a man named Kurtz. While doing so, Marlow (The Heart of Darkness)/Willard (Apocalypse Now!) become progressively fascinated with Kurtz. Kurtz is claimed to have a profound influence on his followers and is becoming a huge influence on Marlow/Willard as well.
No book has captivated the zombie apocalypse better than World War Z. Max Brooks creatively presents “a worldwide zombie pandemic from outbreak to aftermath” (Boyd, Tristan). His book encompasses many social and political themes in the world today. The book reveals true fear and shows the strength of the human race.
The state of the world under the portrayal by Romero is that which is not best suited for living persons to live as such the film makes it as a dystopian horror movie. The movie has implored on some themes which helps its overall portrayal of a horror film which rationally depicts a world in chaos. An example of some of the issues addressed in the movie is racial segregation which is brought about by the protagonist death by the red-neck people of the town at the end of the film. The main thematic concept developed by the film is that of pessimism and despair which one great characterized gesture of most horror films is. The pessimism and despair are brought to the fore when the heroic main characters at the end of the films such as Ben who is shot dead when he is confused to be one of the zombies, and subsequently his body burned with the other zombies. Further, at the beginning of the film, the audience is treated to a flattering American flag on foreground which has successively demonstrated that America is a dying nation as a result of the
"yacketayakking screaming vomiting whispering facts and memories and anecdotes and eyeball kicks and shocks of hospitals and jails and wars" (Ginsberg 11). Like many authors of the modern literature movement, Allen Ginsberg explores the bomb's psychological affects on many Americans during the 1960s. Modern literature describes the chaos of the 1960s, caused by increasing societal problems and fear of the new atomic bomb. Writings such as The Basketball Diaries, "Howl" and Cat's Cradle express concepts of fear, power, governmental control, and death. Government uses society's fear of death and the end of the world to keep control and power over the people. The atomic bomb generates such universal fear and the corrupted government fails to respond to the chaotic behavior of society or the fears of the individuals. This fear that the government achieves not only maintains control, but also causes chaos and the false belief that the government is on the public's side. The chaotic environment is a result of people crying out for help and the conflicting lifestyles arise when people face the terror of death.
...ash, chemical spill and the advancing, life-threatening black cloud, simulated evacuation, drug dealings, dangerous side effects of the drugs, killings and sex, rampart consumerism, underground conspiracies and human-made disasters etc. Such topics represent the concept of zombie culture.
In Bierce’s “One of the Missing”, the protagonist, Jerome Searing, is expose to fear when he is trap under a building that has collapse on him. His evolution, from perfectly sane to completely crazy, is clearly visible.
How many times have you been scared awake by zombies after watching shows or reading comics? Zombies, a particular group of survival horror, are basically dead people who come back to us in an evil way. From novels to Hollywood films, we look like cowards who are repeatedly scared by zombies. How can we still get shocks in this age of scientific society? The answer is that zombies come back with cultural messages in stories, which express our extraordinary fears. Such a horrible story was created by Kirkman, in The Walking Dead he depicted zombies as a horrible metaphor for xenophobia by combining fear of otherness with infectious disease; as a result, fear of contagion fuses with our fear of outsiders, increasing the unequal treatment of immigrants in contemporary society.
...arkness is coming to an end, Kurtz and Marlow are heading back to civilization in England from the Congo. Kurtz is in rough shape. He is mentally and physically exhausted, slowly dying on the boat. Once it is understood that he is going to die, he cries out “The horror! The horror!” The horror that Kurtz is referring to is everything that he has witnessed and done with his life while he was in the Congo. These two words repeated sum up his experiences that we see from Marlow’s perspective. Kurtz’s demise was a product of everything that he had done in the Congo with the company. In the end, all of his hard work was not even worth it. He died and left all of his fortune in the Congo, where he had no one to leave it all to. Kurtz’s reflections on the way he lived his life are essentially all being brought back to him in his final moments as he yells out “the horror!”
By examining the character of Kurtz, we see that he comes to represent the degenerating institution of colonialism. Jonathan Dollimore remarks that Kurtz “embodies the paradox which degeneration theory tries to explain but only exacerbates, namely that civilization and progress seem to engender their own regression and ruin” (45). We can see this through the fact that Kurtz goes into the Belgian Congo in order to strengthen the European world, yet is ultimately unable to do so as he comes face to face with the realization of what he must do in order to succeed and survive the degeneration of the world he has known. To do this, Kurtz’s monstrosity, or as close as he comes to monstrosity, stems from the fact that the society which he is a part of and represents is dying a slow death. Therefore, his final words of “The horror! The horror!” can be interpr...
Though fictional, this novel illustrates the fear surrounding disease, viruses, and contamination and how if uncontrollable, could lead to a global spread that could jeopardize the human race. Traveling internationally, World War Z represents a zombie epidemic that brings forth infection, which can be considered an unconscious actor during this time of confusion and destruction. Scientifically, fear is defined as a natural response found in almost all organisms that revolve around the emotions and feelings induced by perceived threats and danger. Max Brooks illustrates the societal interaction with fear, “Fear of aging, fear of loneliness, fear of poverty, fear of failure. Fear is the most basic emotion we have. Fear is primal. Fear sells. That was my mantra. ‘Fear sells.’” (Brooks 55). The fear of a zombie virus spreading in fact just produces more fear into the mind of the individual. Through research and scientific advancements, fears and anxieties have been proven to put an individual more at risk of developing health issues. How ironic, right? Our fears and anxieties surrounding diseases and the spread of them cause our society to be more susceptible to obtain and contract more health related problems. The fight against the zombie metaphor within World War Z gives the reader a purpose for finding a way to hold
of the city as we read, but Whitehead’s ultimate goal is to depict the effect that a
Mendoza, Ramon G. The Human Vermin: Kafka's Metaphor for Extreme Alienation. N.p.: Salem Press, n.d. Literary Reference Database. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.
The idea of a zombie is made up and it comes from nzambi, the Kongo word for the spirit of a dead person. In states such as Louisiana, or the Creole culture they believe zombies represent a person who has dies and brought back to life with no speech. Kings psychological argument on how we have an urge to watch horror movies because it helps to re-establish our feelings and feel natural again. Klusterman’s sociological essay helped us see the comparison of zombies and humans in real life. In conclusion zombies are not real, they are make believe but help bring a sense of normality to
At first glance, modern zombie movie seem to be about the fear of disease. The zombie movies today feature the “infected” type of zombie being used as the most common, but what threat the zombies really show in the movies are not about the zombies infecting everyone, but the sheer numbers of them. Today’s biggest problem is overpopulation, people are reproducing so fast and so much that overcrowding is starting to appear. People are starting to leave the idea that the world is going to look like a desolate wasteland behind. Instead the end of the world is going to look like most zombie movies do, hordes of people mindlessly swarming everywhere. Even in the old zombie movies the fear that zombies represented was fear of the masses or mobs, than they were about disease, though that was part of it. People know that the world is overcrowded and it is almost like everyone is on their tiptoes waiting for a zombie-like disease to break out. The Scariest thing about zombies is that they mob you, when they attack. Again representing this fear of overpopulation for the modern ear, and the mindless mobs of the earlier
Power this is what kept Kurtz in the jungle for such a long period of time. Determined not to become another causality he becomes allies with the natives through fear. Kurtz is a brilliant man who did not have to adapt to his environment but had it adapt to him. On top of a hill his hut is surrounded by the heads of men who have betrayed in him some sort, this serves as a reminder to anyone who contemplates going against his wish.