Vu 1 Amy Vu Dr.

Lynda Haas Writing 37 24 November 2013 World War Z: A Zombie Fiction In his novel World War Z, Max Brooks presents numerous collections of individual interpretations on how different diversity and cultural aspects affect how people respond and react to the zombie outbreak. (Confusing sentence that may need further revision.) Each of these distinct recounts gives the audience a prospective view in humanity under pressure; they either react to the outbreak in a normal way or they simply do something outrageous. Such circumstances may either convey a story that is truly considered smart or, on the other hand, despicably stupid. (The story isnt stupid or smart, but the reaction is.) Essentially, it is ideal to say that Brookss book leads us through a catalogue of the worlds failings and more importantly, a few scenarios where characters are actually successful (Schaefer). (Introduce the source first.) Simply put, Brooks ties each of the stories together to show humanity at its best and worst. Although it may not seem like it, Brooks was able to embed a few general rhetorical situations within each of the different stories to create a seemingly different approach to the zombie fiction. (Sentence is confusing once again since every communication situation has a rhetorical situation.) Through each of these individual recounts, the audience can effectively comprehend how Brooks wants to communicate through his text by providing an underlying zombie genre convention of how humans are able to face challenges and decisions within the apocalypse despite the differences between culture and diversity. (The best way to approach this is to state that WWZ is like many other zombie genre stories that present us with a cast of

Vu 2 characters, but the apocalypse is what allows us to see human nature under pressure because we are able to examine both our strengths and weaknesses within this story and learn something about ourselves. Throughout the novel, it is evident that Brooks provide several perspective views on how humanity deals with such a sudden disaster, but in the end, the fault always lies within the character that creates a seemingly fatal mistake. Jesika Hendricks and her family remembered constantly seeing the catchphrase of go north across the bottom of the TV (Brooks 122). They obviously listened to the newscast and did what they were told. However, what they didnt realize were the severe consequences that lie ahead of them. (Need specific examples from the story about things that went wrong with the plan because they lacked foresight.) Conversely, told by T. Sean Collins, he observed a remarkably stupid response to the panic where one of his clients provided safety for those who could raise his image during and after the war (Brooks 84). This foolish yet surprisingly realistic plan set celebrities and people of influence to fall for his clients trap because all they wanted was safety. Inevitably, these two plans were remarkably realistic in surviving: from the initial solution to its ending, but they all made the mistake of not being able foresee the results that would relentlessly cost them their lives and everything they had. From these two perspectives, it is evident to say that their initial solution to surviving the zombie apocalypse was indeed clear to begin with. From Jesikas point of view, the audience can visibly see how her and her family responded to the outbreak in any logical manner that society would. Even though they didnt give any instructions on what to do and how to survive, the most reasonable reaction would be to listen to the newscast. Since they knew about the necessities to survive outdoors and the fact that the living dead freeze solid in the cold, it was a reasonable

Vu 3 idea to make a trip up north (Brooks 122). Additionally, as for Collins customer, the idea to turn his huge mansion into a fortress to keep the zombies out for the desperate celebrities in need of shelter was also a clear respond because his client had enough security measures to hold off the living dead forever: high walls, motion sensors, and weapons (Brooks 85). Indeed, these two plans were clear initially, but again, they were too ignorant to not foresee what could possibly happen, ultimately leading them to a path of mistakes and regrets. (Add more quotes after summaries to enhance the analysis.) Despite the differences between Jesika and Collins story, the aftermath of their respond to the outbreak was what caused tensions and problems between their solutions in reality. Because Jesikas parents trusted the news and went north without any consideration whatsoever that everyone else was also doing the same, their unfortunate mistake was not being educated enough to comprehend what would happen in the long-run. Of course, even though they did face the harsh cold weather, the endless occurrences of fights, and scarce supply of food, Jesika and her family were able to outsmart all the other families because of their survival knowledge in the wild. Instead of doing what others thought was the right thing to do to survive, they did the exact opposite. Nevertheless, they still made the mistake of not being able to foresee the misfortunates that were ahead of them. In comparison, the celebrity only had nothing on his mind but benefiting from the outbreak and was thoughtless enough to think about all the improvements he could make to keep the zombies out was wise, but he never gave it a thought to keep the millions of humans seeking shelter out. In reality, Collins client made the mistake of flaunting his survivalists dream house because even though he was safe there, the real threat was the swarm of people ruining the protection that they once thought was invulnerable. (More quotes here to make the analysis a little stronger.)

Vu 4 Within these two different responses to the outbreak, the outcome of who survives and who does not plays an importance role in understanding the results of how they both came to be. In Jesikas family case, the consequence that hurt them the most was their inability to foresee how dangerous the other humans would be in wanting to survive and not being able to predict that many other families were doing the same thing they were doing: heading up north to survive. Jesika constantly stresses the importance of education and how it plays a crucial role in knowing how to survive in the midst of the zombie outbreak, but because everyone lacked knowledge in understanding what to do, these people ultimately cost their own lives. Despite the fact that Jesika recalls that eleven million people died that winter, these people didnt die from being infected by a zombie, they died from natural causes such as hypothermia or starvation (Brooks 129). From Collins story, these high-class celebrities were senseless to not realize that he was only playing the good guy because all he wanted was fame and not to protect them from the zombies. They didnt take a chance to look back and think of what they were going to do; they were so caught up on being able to find safety that they were unmistakably taken into a death trap that ultimately caused their lives. Collins client was too arrogant enough to think that spending a great fortune to create his house a safe place would suffice, but what he didnt foresee was making the mistake of broadcasting his house as a reality TV show would make all the survivors come there and thus, ruining the protection that he once thought he had. As a result of this, Brooks provides an opportunity to offer insight into present-day social decay since the super-richbroadcasts their lives for the less-rich to watch as the world is exploding around them (Schaefer). Furthermore, since Collin had a good sense in what to do, he was able to be the only one who survives within the whole group of people in the mansion. (Setting up a socioeconomic aspect to the stories as part of the comparison will make it more logical to

Vu 5 differentiate these two stories. For Jesikas story, hers is of a middle-class normal American family, while the other is of a celebrity someone who has to become famous for being able to entertain others and who identifies himself through that.) Certainly, these two encounters all revolve around one specific aspect of genre: humanity all have different views on how to respond to the issues of the zombies. In other words, Brooks is able to show how different cultures dealt with the zombie menace and how the zombies, who are essentially mindless, react to different environments (Silver). Provided with these two stories, both of the characters act in behaviors as to what their specific class would normally do: the rich and upper-class would find immediate safety in any way possible, while the others would drive for shelter. Within all of these insights, Brooks is not only trying to tell them directly, but he also trying to convey a message: we are not prepared for disasters and because of that, why we are not prepared is one of the many subjects of [the] book (Silver). Brooks message is clear indeed; through the views of the survivors, we see the struggle for basic survivaland the dispassionate planning for the annihilation of masses of people by the powers (Silver). Derived from the horror and zombie genre, the struggle that are faced from the zombies themselves are not only part of the genre, instead it can come from the reaction of the living humans involved, and how they respond to the state of fear and violent chaos brought about by the zombies (TVTropes). Perhaps these characters reacted in the way they did because they didnt know how to necessarily respond to a zombie outbreak. Brooks implements in his novel that what people think is the best way to survive will sometimes, ironically, end up being a foolish and ridiculous action. In each of these recollections, Brooks is able to provide the audience views on how individuals first experienced the outbreak. As a result, he established his claim by suggesting that

Vu 6 World War Z is, in fact, a zombie fiction because of the numerous voices that give us several sides on how they approached it. With Jesika Hendricks story, the audience can visibly see how her and her familys choice of responding to the outbreak was the outcome of a keen approach. In comparison, Collins story persuaded the viewers that despite similarities or differences in cultural background or region, people will always have an absurd answer as to what to do. World War Z serves as an excellent example on contrasting and establishing humanitys response because it doesnt only give a specific perspective point-of-view on how one experienced the apocalypse, but rather Brooks use an endless supply of voices to tell how the world dealt with the calamity (Chappell). Given all of these, the audience can magnify deeper within the text and finally grasp Brooks communication of a zombie genre through World War Z.

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Works Cited Brooks, Max. World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. New York: Broadway Paperbacks, 2013. Print. Chappell, Les. "Book Review: World War Z." The Lesser of Two Equals. N.p., 5 Feb. 2007. Web. 11 Nov. 2013. Schaefer, Christie. "World War Z: Monsters of This Societys Own Making." World War Z: Monsters of This Society's Own Making -. International Committee of the Fourth International, 25 Oct. 2007. Web. 11 Nov. 2013. Silver, Steven H. "The SF Site Featured Review: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War." The SF Site Featured Review: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. SF Site Reviews, 2006. Web. 11 Nov. 2013. "Zombie Apocalypse." TV Tropes. TV Tropes Foundation, LLC, n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2013.