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[THEME AND SUMMARY]
Yes, of all genres, the zombie book actually has a theme. And don't think it's something about the best way to survive a zombie apocalypse, because it's not. This book is amazing because of the thought, research, and incredible characterization that has been compiled into it. The theme, in my opinion, is something along the lines of: Trust and rationality are what keeps the unity, as humans become nothing without it. Explanation: The people of Earth, encountered with the zombie breakouts, would often become isolated cities left to their own devices. Some did well. Other fell apart, succumbing to the plagues of greed, insanity, and the loss of will. One example of the things that constantly threatened the people was: "ADS, that was my enemy: Asymptomatic Demise Syndrome, or, Apocalyptic Despair Syndrome, depending on who you were talking to... no one understood what was happening at first... some were in perfect health. They simply go to sleep one night and not wake up the next morning. The problem was physiological, a case of just giving up, not wanting to see tomorrow because you know it would only bring more suffering." (Brooks 159) ADS was a cause in some of the place hit harder by the loss of need for white-collar workers. People weren't prepared for a sudden shift in their comfortable way of life, and simply died, not committing suicide, not succumbing to injuries nor diseases, simply not wanting to live anymore. Like Princess Amidala from Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, when she died because she gave up. Some people handled things unlike the prewar times yet succeeded due to different circumstances, further proving my theme, is: "Yes, there was the fear of pain - the lash, the cane - but all of that paled back when compared to public humiliation. People were terrified of having their crimes exposed." (Brooks 149) This person, nicknamed "The Whacko", was a VP during the war, and was discussing the forms of punishment used. He said that people thought is was barbaric at first, but realized the logic behind it. People were more desperate, and needed more severe punishment to keep everyone in line and not committing crimes because they thought it would be their last days.
The theme does reflect some real life issues. For one, modern problems like the government shutdown is a connection to the theme. Trust and rationality are important. Excuse me for defending my political view, but the Republicans acted irrationally, very irrationally, at a single law, shutting down the entire government because of it. They were mistrustful, thinking that the law was not worthy of being in place, not trusting the good it could bring. Sure, there are some things the Democrats got wrong too, as they are also guilty of mistrust and irrationality, and what does this whole predicament bring to us? A debt ceiling, the impossibility of reverence towards our great nation's history, and more and more childish, pathetic actions and feelings that have kept our country in a horrible gridlock, a stasis brought about only by the reluctance to trust one another and the actions of each other, additionally the hasty, short-sighted, and disgustingly childish reactions that both sides are known to do. This real life and frankly important issue is reflected with my theme for World War Z.
The story utilizes the zombies to show the people of the Earth how the past ways of life are the better ways of life, which is similiar to the age Age of Romanticism, which idolized past lives. The zombies created such an unusual enemy that none of the modern attempts at persuasion through force (shock and awe) will affect them. Similarly, modern weapons and techniques are pretty much pointless, "It was a monument to American technical prowess...and in this war, that prowess counted for [expletive deleted]. That must have been frustrating. Frustrating? Do you know what it feels like to be told that the one goal [...] is considered 'strategically invalid'? Would you say this is a common feeling? Let me put it this way; the Russian army wasn't the only service to be decimated by their own government [...] Some DeStRes 'experts' had determined that our resource-to-kill ratio, our RKR, was the most lopsided of all the branches [...] Now we were told that the price of one JSOW kit [...] could pay for a platoon of infantry pukes who could smoke a thousand times as many Gs." (Brown 168-9) This person, Colonel Christina Eliopolis, used to be the pilot of an FA-22, and claimed it could "outfly and outfight God and all his angels." (Brown 168) However, this technology proved to be not worth much against a zombie who could physiologically not be scared, and wouldn't die without destruction of the brain. The army must convert to older methods of warfare to fight.
The story utilizes the zombies to show the people of the Earth how the past ways of life are the better ways of life, which is similiar to the age Age of Romanticism, which idolized past lives. The zombies created such an unusual enemy that none of the modern attempts at persuasion through force (shock and awe) will affect them. Similarly, modern weapons and techniques are pretty much pointless, "It was a monument to American technical prowess...and in this war, that prowess counted for [expletive deleted]. That must have been frustrating. Frustrating? Do you know what it feels like to be told that the one goal [...] is considered 'strategically invalid'? Would you say this is a common feeling? Let me put it this way; the Russian army wasn't the only service to be decimated by their own government [...] Some DeStRes 'experts' had determined that our resource-to-kill ratio, our RKR, was the most lopsided of all the branches [...] Now we were told that the price of one JSOW kit [...] could pay for a platoon of infantry pukes who could smoke a thousand times as many Gs." (Brown 168-9) This person, Colonel Christina Eliopolis, used to be the pilot of an FA-22, and claimed it could "outfly and outfight God and all his angels." (Brown 168) However, this technology proved to be not worth much against a zombie who could physiologically not be scared, and wouldn't die without destruction of the brain. The army must convert to older methods of warfare to fight.
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