world war z
Nikole Blodgett
English 101
October 1, 2014
Paper 1: Literary Analysis In the book “World War Z” the characters in the book express many examples of the worst and best of human behavior. We see characters that choose self-preservation, and those who rise above self-preservation and instead choose self-sacrifice. The choice to save others or to save yourself really says what kind of person you are. Although we would like to say we would be the hero and save everyone before we would save ourselves. But when it comes down to it most humans would try to save themselves first. Also to humans it may not seem worth it to sacrifice their own life for a bunch of strangers. Self preservation is displayed in many chapters one of which being the chapter in which Project Manager Sardan Khan is given the mission to blow up a mountain trail to cut off the zombies and also the civilians who were trying to escape them. This act is a good example of what we would consider bad human behavior, leaving all of those innocent people behind just to save a few lives and a safe base. Khan’s choice to preserve his own life results in the lives of thousands of civilians’ deaths. Another example of self-preservation is in the church in Topeka Kansas where a feral child named Sharon experiences a group of people in a church trying to hide away from the dead that are trying to break down the doors. Once there is no hope for survival the parents start to kill their own children so that they wont become a zombie. Although this isn’t an example of people preserving their own lives they are in a sense “preserving” their helpless children’s lives, or so they believe. To save our own lives over saving the lives of others is a natural reaction in times of disaster but this doesn’t really count as bad human behavior, because it is only human to want to stay alive and pursue our life. Characters from the book displayed acts of self-sacrifice as well. Of course if they made the ultimate
English 101
October 1, 2014
Paper 1: Literary Analysis In the book “World War Z” the characters in the book express many examples of the worst and best of human behavior. We see characters that choose self-preservation, and those who rise above self-preservation and instead choose self-sacrifice. The choice to save others or to save yourself really says what kind of person you are. Although we would like to say we would be the hero and save everyone before we would save ourselves. But when it comes down to it most humans would try to save themselves first. Also to humans it may not seem worth it to sacrifice their own life for a bunch of strangers. Self preservation is displayed in many chapters one of which being the chapter in which Project Manager Sardan Khan is given the mission to blow up a mountain trail to cut off the zombies and also the civilians who were trying to escape them. This act is a good example of what we would consider bad human behavior, leaving all of those innocent people behind just to save a few lives and a safe base. Khan’s choice to preserve his own life results in the lives of thousands of civilians’ deaths. Another example of self-preservation is in the church in Topeka Kansas where a feral child named Sharon experiences a group of people in a church trying to hide away from the dead that are trying to break down the doors. Once there is no hope for survival the parents start to kill their own children so that they wont become a zombie. Although this isn’t an example of people preserving their own lives they are in a sense “preserving” their helpless children’s lives, or so they believe. To save our own lives over saving the lives of others is a natural reaction in times of disaster but this doesn’t really count as bad human behavior, because it is only human to want to stay alive and pursue our life. Characters from the book displayed acts of self-sacrifice as well. Of course if they made the ultimate