"Hamburg was heavily infested. They were in the streets, in the buildings, pouring out of Neuer Elbtunnel. We'd tried to blockade it with civilian vehicles, but they were squirming through any open space like bloated, bloody worms. Refugees were also all over. They'd come from as far away as Saxony, thinking they could escape by sea. The ships were long gone, port was a mess. We had over a thousand trapped at the Reynolds Aluminiumwerk and at least tripped that at the Eurokai terminal. No food, no clean water, just waiting to be rescued with the dead swarming outside, and I don't know how many infected inside. The harbor was choked with corpses, but the corpses were all still moving. We'd blast them into the harbor with antiriot water cannons, it saved ammo and it helped to keep the streets clear. It was a good idea until the pressure in the cannons died" (112)
This time, the narrator is a German native who's on a pilgrimage to Ireland for his Catholic wife. His interview is completely accidental and very insightful. He's just an outsider civilian who's witnessing what the Irish are doing to help protect their people. They tried blasting them, and refugee's are coming from all over the world to be saved only Ireland is no better off than any other country who's infested with zombies. They all have their different ways of dealing with this invasion, and no one has the cure all that will kill the zombies and get rid of them permanently. No one has figured out why it started, or how it spread and people want answers. There are riots and protests against the government because they're not telling them anything either. This portrayal of the future depicts the past as a place where people are moving faster than anyone predicted, and they can't deal with everything that comes their way as a consequence. Maybe if they slowed down, this could have been avoided.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
"The Tulip"
"They tell me what happe ned here was not unusual, all around our world where the ocean meets land, people trying desperately to board whatever floated for a chance of survival at sea...I knew Alang was a shipyard, that's why I tried to make for it in the first place. I'd expected to find a construction site cranking out hull after hull to carry us all to safety. I had no idea it was just the opposite. Alang didn't build ships, it killed tThem...here were no dry docks, no slipways. Alang was not so much a yard as a long stretch of sand. Standard procedure was to ram the ships up onto the shore, stranding them like beached whales...The tulip literally split in two, the bow remaining on shore while the stern was pulled out to sea. There was nothin anyone could do, the Delmas was already at flank speed, dragging the tulips stern out into the deep water where it rolled over and sank within seconds. There must of been a thousand people aboard, packing every cabin and passageway and square inch of open deck space. Their cries were muffled by the thunder of escaping air" (70-71)
World War Z - Max Brooks
Biotechnology and genetics
The narrator in this section of the book is a white collar Indian man with a college degree and little knowledge of how to use his hands. He's scared and out of options. He didn't know where else to go so he tried the local shipyard because he assumed that people were leaving the country that way but in fact, it was the opposite. The shipyard was destroying all ships trying to leave and killing the thousands of people who were on board, hoping to escape the country and the infection. Boats were being beached, and destroyed. No one was permitted to leave the country. This was perhaps because the government didn't want the the infection spreading, or maybe they didn't want people to know that they were contaminated with the zombie apocalypse as well. They would rather kill their own people and destroy thousands of lives and not give anyone a chance for survival than look bad to the rest of the world, who is going through something very similar. This shows how petty humans are. They would rather die than ask for help. Humans are meant to make mistakes, we're not designed to be perfect however, when lives at at stake, most people won't rise to above and beyond the call of duty and do what they have to do to ensure survival for more than just themselves.
World War Z - Max Brooks
Biotechnology and genetics
The narrator in this section of the book is a white collar Indian man with a college degree and little knowledge of how to use his hands. He's scared and out of options. He didn't know where else to go so he tried the local shipyard because he assumed that people were leaving the country that way but in fact, it was the opposite. The shipyard was destroying all ships trying to leave and killing the thousands of people who were on board, hoping to escape the country and the infection. Boats were being beached, and destroyed. No one was permitted to leave the country. This was perhaps because the government didn't want the the infection spreading, or maybe they didn't want people to know that they were contaminated with the zombie apocalypse as well. They would rather kill their own people and destroy thousands of lives and not give anyone a chance for survival than look bad to the rest of the world, who is going through something very similar. This shows how petty humans are. They would rather die than ask for help. Humans are meant to make mistakes, we're not designed to be perfect however, when lives at at stake, most people won't rise to above and beyond the call of duty and do what they have to do to ensure survival for more than just themselves.
Greece
"The blood trail led up the mountain path from the massacre in the wadi. A lot of blood. Anyone who lost that much wouldn't be getting up again. Only some how he did. He hadn't been treated. There were no other track marks. From what we could tell,. this man had to run, bled, fallen face down- we still could see his bloody face mark imprinted in the sand. Somehow, without suffocating, without bleeding to death, he'd lain there for some time, then just gotten up again and started walking. These new tracks were very different from the old. They were slower, closer together. His right foot was dragging, clearly why he'd lost his shoe, and old, worn out Nike high top. The drag marks were sprinkled with fluid. Not blood, not human, but droplets of hard, black, crusted ooze that none of us recognized. We followed these and the drag marks to the entrance of the cave. There was no opening fire, no reception of any kind. We found the tunnel entrance unguarded and wide open. Immediately we began to see bodies, men killed by their own booby traps. They looked like they'd been trying...running...to get out." (19)
World War Z- Max Brooks
Biotechnology and genetics
Max Brooks takes on the view point of a Greek soldier because soldiers were probably the first to deal with this monsters. In Greece, they were almost unheard of until they saw the track marks in the dirt and followed it to the cave where there were lifeless bodies of soldiers everywhere. They were probably running to escape the undead in such a rush that they ended up being trapped into their own booby traps, or perhaps they fell into them on purpose because that was a far better fate than becoming a zombie themselves. This shows the fear and desperation of humans and how they're not invincible. They're breakable and the human race can't defeat everything no matter how hard they try.
World War Z- Max Brooks
Biotechnology and genetics
Max Brooks takes on the view point of a Greek soldier because soldiers were probably the first to deal with this monsters. In Greece, they were almost unheard of until they saw the track marks in the dirt and followed it to the cave where there were lifeless bodies of soldiers everywhere. They were probably running to escape the undead in such a rush that they ended up being trapped into their own booby traps, or perhaps they fell into them on purpose because that was a far better fate than becoming a zombie themselves. This shows the fear and desperation of humans and how they're not invincible. They're breakable and the human race can't defeat everything no matter how hard they try.
"The Shetou"
"Before the outbreak started, overland smuggling was never popular. To arrange for the passports, the fake tour buses, the contacts and protection on the other side all took a lot of money. Back then, the only two lucrative routes were into Thailand or Myanmar. Where I used to live, in Kashi, the only option was into the ex-Soviet republics. No one wanted to go there, and this is why I wasn't initially a shetou. I was an importer: raw opium, uncut diamonds, girls, boys, whatever was valuable from those primitive excuses for countries. The outbreak changed all that. Suddenly we were besieged with offers, and not just from the liudong renkou, but almost as you say, from the people on the up and up. I had urban officials, private farmers, and even low level government officials. These were people who had a lot to lose. They didn't care where they were going, they just needed to get out." (12)
World War Z - Max Brooks
Biotechnology and genetics
Max Brook changes the narrator yet again to a Tibetan native. He also uses the local language to give it some authenticity. This point of view is that of a kind of scummy, low life "snake head" who smuggled in whatever he could and whatever could make the most money. After the zombie outbreak, he began to get business from officials and people who had more to lose than your standard citizen. People wanted and needed to get out before the outbreak got too bad to leave. They were just trying to take preventative measures. They only thought of themselves though. Government officials abandoned their posts, and forgot all about the people they were supposed to protect. This shows how selfish humans are, and how they only look out for themselves at all costs. They don't care about other people in a time of crisis, they just care about themselves and their own safety in a situation.
World War Z - Max Brooks
Biotechnology and genetics
Max Brook changes the narrator yet again to a Tibetan native. He also uses the local language to give it some authenticity. This point of view is that of a kind of scummy, low life "snake head" who smuggled in whatever he could and whatever could make the most money. After the zombie outbreak, he began to get business from officials and people who had more to lose than your standard citizen. People wanted and needed to get out before the outbreak got too bad to leave. They were just trying to take preventative measures. They only thought of themselves though. Government officials abandoned their posts, and forgot all about the people they were supposed to protect. This shows how selfish humans are, and how they only look out for themselves at all costs. They don't care about other people in a time of crisis, they just care about themselves and their own safety in a situation.
"Patient Zero"
"I found "Patient Zero" behind the locked door of an abandoned house across town. He was twelve years old. His wrists and feet were bound with plastic packing twine. Although he'd rubbed off the skin around his bonds, there was no blood. There was also no blood on his other wounds, not on the gouges on his legs or arms, or from the large dry gap where his right toe had been. He was writhing like an animal, a gag muffled his growls. At first the villagers tried to hold me back. They warned me not to touch him, that he was "cursed". I shrugged them off and reached for my mask and gloves. The boy's skin was as cold and gray as the cement on which he lay. I could find neither his heartbeat nor his pulse. His eyes were wild, wide and sunken back in their sockets. They remained locked on me like a predatory beast. Throughout the examination he was inexplicably hostile, reaching for me with his bound hands and snapping at me through his gag...I tried to take a blood sample and instead extracted only brown, viscous matter...I heard his left arm snap. Jagged ends of both radius and ulna stabbed through his gray flesh...the boy didn't cry out, didn't even seem to notice.."(7)
World War Z - Max Brooks
Biotechnology and genetics
Max Brooks uses another point of view, and a different narrator for this chapter to show how other countries dealt with the zombie outbreak. In this town in China, they thought that the people were cursed and contagious and didn't understand why they were acting so animalistic. They saw the tiny bite marks and couldn't figure out which animal they came from. They probably never even thought that they could be from a human or that any human disease could turn this violent this fast or be this degenerative. The disease completely changed the human body. There was no blood, no heart beat, no pulse and yet he was alive. They even accidentally snapped his arm in half and yet the boy didn't even notice. It's easy to think that he could be cursed or something like that because no one has ever had to deal with a human in this state and they're scared and desperate for answers. This entry shows that all of us are scared and don't know what to do in a time of crisis. We're all looking for answers and we don't know where to find them. But we're too stubborn to ask any other country for help because we don't want them to find us weak or have something against us. It shows how little humans know and how little they're willing to find answers out side of themselves.
World War Z - Max Brooks
Biotechnology and genetics
Max Brooks uses another point of view, and a different narrator for this chapter to show how other countries dealt with the zombie outbreak. In this town in China, they thought that the people were cursed and contagious and didn't understand why they were acting so animalistic. They saw the tiny bite marks and couldn't figure out which animal they came from. They probably never even thought that they could be from a human or that any human disease could turn this violent this fast or be this degenerative. The disease completely changed the human body. There was no blood, no heart beat, no pulse and yet he was alive. They even accidentally snapped his arm in half and yet the boy didn't even notice. It's easy to think that he could be cursed or something like that because no one has ever had to deal with a human in this state and they're scared and desperate for answers. This entry shows that all of us are scared and don't know what to do in a time of crisis. We're all looking for answers and we don't know where to find them. But we're too stubborn to ask any other country for help because we don't want them to find us weak or have something against us. It shows how little humans know and how little they're willing to find answers out side of themselves.
"The Crisis"
"It goes by many names: "The Crisis," "The Dark Years," "The Walking Plague," as well as newer and more "hip" titles such as "World War Z" or "Z War One." I personally dislike the last moniker as it implies an inevitable "Z War Two." For me, it will always be "The Zombie War," and while many may protest the scientific accuracy of the word zombie, they will be hard-pressed to discover a more globally accepted term for the creatures that almost caused our extinction. Zombie remains a devastating word, unrivaled in its power to conjure up so many memories or emotions, and it is these memories, and emotions, that are the subject of this book....The official report was a collection of cold, hard data, an objective "after-action report" that would allow future generations to study the events of the apocalyptic decade without being influenced by "the human factor." But isn't the human factor what connects us so deeply to our past? Will future generations care as much for chronologies and casualty statistics as they would for the personal accounts of individuals not so different from themselves? By excluding the human factor, aren't we risking the kind of personal detachment from a history that may, heaven forbid, lead us one day to repeat it? And in the end, isn't the human factor the only true difference between us and the enemy we now refer to as "the living dead"? (1-2)
World War Z - Max Brooks
Biotechnology and genetics
Max Brooks enlists a journalistic technique in writing this novel to give the reader a more personal, and intimate look into his portrayal of the future. By using first person, it gives us a closer, candid and less formalized look at the zombie apocalypse. Max Brooks shows peoples general lack of understanding of the situation. By giving the war silly nicknames, it shows that they don't grasp the seriousness of the situation or understand how devastating it is to millions of people. The narrator has a great point in the whole human detachment that was portrayed in an edited book that he wrote. As humans, we need to feel an attachment and some responsibility for something that we caused in the past because if we don't, then we are almost certain to recreate it and cause another crisis. People won't change their ways unless they feel an attachment to something awful that was completely their own fault. This depiction of the future reveals that humans in the present are careless and don't really think about the consequences of their actions or how what they do today greatly effects tomorrow.
World War Z - Max Brooks
Biotechnology and genetics
Max Brooks enlists a journalistic technique in writing this novel to give the reader a more personal, and intimate look into his portrayal of the future. By using first person, it gives us a closer, candid and less formalized look at the zombie apocalypse. Max Brooks shows peoples general lack of understanding of the situation. By giving the war silly nicknames, it shows that they don't grasp the seriousness of the situation or understand how devastating it is to millions of people. The narrator has a great point in the whole human detachment that was portrayed in an edited book that he wrote. As humans, we need to feel an attachment and some responsibility for something that we caused in the past because if we don't, then we are almost certain to recreate it and cause another crisis. People won't change their ways unless they feel an attachment to something awful that was completely their own fault. This depiction of the future reveals that humans in the present are careless and don't really think about the consequences of their actions or how what they do today greatly effects tomorrow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)