Caution: Not About Lima

I love reading. I wake up in the morning with time to spare so I can knock back a few pages, and I have been reading more since my work hours aren’t as…numerous…as in the US. Unfortunately, I only brought two books with me, and though they are dense and lengthy, they only carried me through the end of July. I initially regretted my lack of foresight in buying a Kindle or a Nook when I saw the selection of loaners on the Casona bookshelf. Most were (big surprise) French books. The only English books were obscure science fiction works and saucy romance novels. I could always buy books here, but the selection isn’t the best and the prices are surprisingly high. So, I asked Jessica if I could borrow “Breaking Dawn,” the fourth installment in the Twilight series. It was a quick read, and certainly not a terrible book, but unfortunately it only lasted me a week and a half. Luck seemed to be favoring me when I examined the bookshelf again and found “World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War.” I thought it was a comedy or satire, but the book is more of a socio-political commentary. After finishing “World War Z,” I began to realize that it shared striking similarities to “Breaking Down.” However, these differences would best be explored and discussed in essay format as these books appear ostensibly unlike. This rest of this post has nothing to do with Lima, so I completely understand if you choose to pass on it. If you do decide to finish reading I would love to hear your feedback about my self-imposed prompt, thesis, diction, syntax, or anything really. Unfortunately neither book is in my possession so I won’t be able to make citations or quotes, and I hope you forgive such omissions.

Prompt: Compare and contrast the use of the supernatural as a tool to explore human nature in Stephenie (I know, the spelling kills me too) Meyer’s “Breaking Dawn” and Max Brooks’ “World War Z.”

Though debate around the existence of vampires, werewolves, and zombies has not been firmly resolved, many authors treat these subjects as examples of the supernatural in their literature. The author’s purpose for such inclusion may be to create shock value, perform a historical examination, or simply use an unconventional theme. With each of these uses of the supernatural, it is the supernatural element which forms the primary focus of the piece. Alternatively, some authors insert supernatural creatures to achieve a better understanding of what makes us human. Both Stephenie Meyer and Max Brooks, in “Breaking Dawn” and “World War Z” respectively, rely heavily on supernatural creatures in their works. However, while Brooks uses a zombie uprising as a catalyst to explore the behavior of humans in extreme circumstances, Meyer conducts deep character examinations of vampires and werewolves to highlight the essence of being human.

“World War Z” is a fictional piece recounting the lead up, duration, and aftermath of an almost global zombie uprising and world war. This apocalyptic event is conveyed to the reader through interviews with many participants in the way from various countries across the globe. Though zombies are central to the plot of “World War Z” they are never a central character. While there are multiple interviews with each individual, a zombie is never interviewed. The reader never hears a zombie speak or gains insight into the zombie thought process. Zombies are included not for specific qualities they have, but for the situation their uprising creates. Faced with extreme versions of problems we see today (resource scarcity, mass population migration, rapidly changing economic activity), the humans in Brooks’ book respond with greed, hate, stubbornness, and intolerance. However, Brooks give us hope by also recounting instances of great generosity, openness, courage, and flexibility. Though we see one character make millions knowingly selling a useless vaccine against the zombie plague, we also learn about a general who gives his own life to blow up a key zombie entrance point. For each instance of human weakness Brooks also shows incredible moments of strength. The reader need not imagine zombie wars to remember moments in our history when humans exhibited such qualities, and thus this book becomes less of a hypothetical scenario and more of a historical reflection.

Meyer uses supernatural creatures much more intimately in “Breaking Dawn,” actually making vampires and werewolves (technically shapeshifters) primary characters in the story. Not only are vampires and werewolves intimately involved in relationships with humans, Meyer also details the transformation of a human into a vampire and the ensuing personality changes. While the vampires and werewolves provide unique plot elements to “Breaking Dawn,” it is deep character examination of the supernatural beings that gives the reader a greater understanding of human nature. Through Edward’s insatiable desire to please Bella, Carlisle’s extreme compassion, Jacob’s fierce loyalty, or Rosalie’s tumultuous ficklneness, we see exaggerated versions of the qualities which make humans unique. It is precisely this exaggeration which brings greater understanding of what it means to be human because we recognize the overwrought caricatures of ourselves. As Bella transforms from human to vampire we can see her motherly instincts and devotion multiply exponentially. However, we also see that she retains the innate qualities she had as a human. Thus, Meyer uses vampires and werewolves almost as extreme versions of humans to highlight in great detail our fundamental nature.

Though Brooks and Meyer use supernatural creatures in different ways to achieve their examinations of human nature, neither book relies on the supernatural as a fundamental plot element. Zombies are arguably less necessary to establish the apocalypse scenario than vampires and werewolves are to form Meyer’s love story. However, any of these creatures could be replaced with different supernatural beings and achieve the same ultimate goal. It is not important that Edward is a vampire, it is important that he exhibits a hyper-strong version of the love and devotion of which humans are capable. It is not necessary that zombies overran the eastern United States, it is necessary that the American resistance shows its legendary courage at the Battle of New Hope. This interchangeability of supernatural creatures (Edward could have been an alien, the zombie uprising could have been replaced by swamp creatures) reflects the fact that these authors are experts in humans only. Perhaps someday a zombie author will explore zombie nature, but until then deep character examinations will always reflect the human condition.