Sameer Auluck, Period 6, 3/29/23

 Sameer Auluck

Period 6

3/29/23

Modern Mythology 2023

Literacy & Learning

• Write about your thoughts regarding any of the fiction or nonfiction covered in class.

• Reflect on any new information you have learned in English class by considering how that learning influences your critical perception.

• How is what you’re learning applied to any other classes/the world around you?

This semester we read World War Z by Max Brooks. The novel is about the apocalypse and the invasion of zombies. One thing I liked about the book is its uniqueness in how it told the story. Instead of one continuous plot, this novel uses many different accounts from people all over the world, which highlights their own circumstances and backgrounds. The invasion of zombies in this novel was a worldwide issue, so the use of these many accounts is very insightful and highlights the diverse experiences of all of the characters. One of the biggest themes of the books is the will to survive. In the book, the humans would do anything in their power to outlive others, even if it meant killing other humans. One account spoke of a little girl who has faced psychologically trauma throughout her life because of something that happened during the zombie invasion. In the account, she told the readers how her own mom tried to murder her for the “greater good”, with the intention that she wouldn’t face the suffering of the zombie invasion. After the attempted murder, the little girl was all by herself, without parental figures and it shows how you can’t even trust those closest to you in apocalyptic times. 

In class, we watched the episode “The Grove” from the Walking Dead. This episode takes place in the middle of the zombie apocalypse and was the story of a group of survivors from a prison that was recently infected by the zombies. The group included 2 adults named Carol and Therese, 2 little girls named Lizzie and Mika and an infant named Judith. They find an abandoned house and they move in, even though there were walkers nearby, which worried Therese. In the show, Lizzie had the notion that the walkers were friendly and that they shouldn’t kill them. She even tried feeding one that was injured on the road. Moving forward, Lizzie ends up killing her own sister Mika, because she thought her walker form would live forever and would be friendly with her. She almost killed the infant Judith, but was confronted by Carol and Tyreese. Horrified by Lizzie’s actions, Carol decided to shoot her in the head. She believed that she would be a big hindrance in their mission to survive the zombie invasion, and that she was already too far gone to be taken care/cured. This episode also shares the World War Z theme of survival. Carol killed a little child, because she knew that she would be a danger to many other people. There is no remorse in the end of the world.

We can see many instances of themes of survival around the world. For example, in the sinking of a cruise or any other ship, a “Great Panic” would occur. People running around, throwing things, all hell breaking loose. They would do anything they could to survive, even if it meant endangering many others. They might throw each other overboard, fighting over the remaining life jackets. The life boats would be overflowing with women and children, with the men left behind fighting for survival. The people’s will to survive will