Z For Zachariah Dystopian Comparison

Dystopia often serves as a way of communicating a warning to present society about some aspect of our lives or beliefs that is likely to lead to a dystopian reality, with the goal of encouraging the audience to change so as to prevent such a disaster. Both the novel Z for Zachariah by Robert C.O’Brian and the movie In Time directed by Andrew Niccol can be interpreted as warning for modern day society regarding the advances of technology and science that could destroy humanity and in doing so create an unstable world. For example, a post-apocalyptic world is created by the advances in nuclear technology which has wiped out humanity, leaving only two people on earth. Z for Zachariah plays into the world wide fear of such a disaster from the 70’s
This is established in Z for Zachariah when Ann is constantly confronted with the huge power imbalances between her and Loomis on several occasions as both in age and strength Loomis has the upper hand. He uses these attributes of his to attempt to prevent Ann from leaving the valley and living as a free woman. This is exemplified through the connotations of Loomis name – Mr. Loomis. His name has connotation with Lucifer and the word ‘looming’ which foreshadows his impending insanity and hunger for power later in the text. It characterises him as ‘dystopia’ for his entrance into Ann’s ‘utopia’ signifies the beginning of Ann’s end, comparatively he acts as the ‘snake’ Lucifer in the creation story; as his name would suggest. His display of unjustified displacement of Ann clearly depicts the injustice of the power struggle between the two characters. The power struggle in In Time is between Will Salas and the high society in New Greenwich, specifically Philippe Weis, who uses status and wealth to keep power over the population. He abused his power to become immortal and force the majority of society to conform. This is clearly shown through the setting especially regarding the differences, in particular the number of barriers, between Dayton and New Greenwich. As Will travels to
Z for Zariah and In Time both depict similar romantic relationships, both unhealthy and abusive. However a difference between these texts is the intended message of the relationships, In Time’s directors did not intend for the relationship to be question, whereas Robert C.O’Brian did. In Time presents a harmless romanticised version of an abusive relationship, almost identical to the situation of Patty Hearst in the 70’s. The relationship between Slyvia Weis and Wil Salas begins when Will kidnaps and uses her as a human shield “Put it [the gun] down or I’ll blow her head off.” Stockholm syndrome is a condition that causes a hostage to sympathise with their captor, similar to how Sylvia acts with Will, as after a very short period of time she completely disregards all that she was taught growing up and condones his behaviour. Sylvia condones bank robbing and shoots an officer as she ‘falls in love’ with Will. Her situation is portrayed as a romanticised re-enactment of Patty Hearst’s circumstance as it was argued that she was brain washed by her captors to rob banks. This unhealthy manipulation represents the aspect of dystopia within her life. O’Brians depiction of an abusive and harmful relationship through Ann and Loomis’ was an intentionally disturbing illustration for the readers from the early stages of