In Zone One Mark Spitz is tasked with clearing New York City of zombies to allow humanity to begin developing again. This zombie novel is unique in that the zombies are not thought of exclusively as bloodthirsty monsters, but instead as a separate class altogether. This distinction is explored particularly in the two classes of zombies, skels and stragglers. The relatively docile stragglers only exist to wander the city and are not overly hostile to themselves or others. The skels are extremely aggressive and actively attack the sweepers on sight. Towards the end of the novel, it is discovered that the stragglers are being converted into the skels. This is reminiscent of Karl Marx’s prediction of communism. Wolff and Leopold provide an overview and analysis of Karl Marx’s philosophy that can be found at https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/marx/#InjuCapi. Marx’s essential theory is that the proletariat will eventually seize of means of production and cast out the elite. The assumption behind this theory is that once the working class holds the wealth, then segregation and greed will dissolve as there would be nothing to be competitive about. Wolff and Leopold question the integration of justice and communism in section 5.3. They claim Marx believed either that communism and justice were compatible or that communism transcended justice. This idea is expressed in Zone One by the rise of the zombies. Mark Spitz thrives in the apocalypse in a world stripped of class and race. The humans are the only group that distinguishes the zombies between stragglers and skels and could be the bourgeoisie. The zombies are the proletariat and as they begin to “seize the means of production” they become skels and attempt to tear down Zone One. Once the zombies overrun Zone One, Mark Spitz begins to find peace in the second end of the world. The zombies have no concept of class, race, or prejudice. They are all equal once they transform into skels and there are no social issues. The only issue brought up in the novel is that there is also no culture or social functions.
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AuthorI am a mechanical engineering student graduating this semester. Studying the role of societal change in the apocalypse interests me. Archives
April 2021
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