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Hyun-Seung Christine Mun Intensive Writing (WR 37) Dr. Lynda Haas 12th November 2013 The Thread to Connection: Phalanx In a novel, the narration can vary in three different forms. They could either have a first person, which is usually the protagonist, as a narrator. Or, they can use a third person to look at the protagonists and the antagonists feelings as a whole to let the readers get a larger view of the story plot. The last way is to incorporate the view of someone in between. Usually, someone in between is shown as for example, the interviewer. Instead of chronologically ordering the story plot of the happenings that occurs to the protagonist of the story, the interviewer knots the whole book by meeting various characters. Of course, these characters are not met in random. They are all gathered by a common keyword or a common happening that occurred in the book. In the novel of World War Z: an Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks, the readers could see the peculiar type of narration that is used in writing the novel; the oral interviews of 46 characters. Published in 2006, World War Z is incredible in a way of acting as a mirror to our society. [People] say the Battle of Yonkers could never happen[and] I sayit already happened in South Africa against the Zulus when they creamed the British Army(Conan). Brooks made the novel seem realistic with the facts and collisions that are happening between the 21st century nations. Because of this, the targeted readers reach far beyond the zombie fans, but also the socialists as well. This book

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portrays the large picture of the zombie war by weaving in different stories of each character. In this large picture of the book, there are several elements such as cultures, morals, or even substances like medications that shows up frequently to derive a connectivity among the broken chapters that assimilates the divergent cast. One of the topics that come up to hook up a story inside the big picture frame of the zombie apocalypse is the false antibiotics for the zombie infection, Phalanx. Using Phalanx and the personal greed that is included along the use of the drug, the author connects the individual interviews into a smooth flowing narration; thus, resembling the connectivity feature that is incorporated in the novel convention. One of the continuity that Max Brooks inputs in the book is so called, antivirus for zombies; Phalanx. Phalanx appears for the first time in the book by Breck Scott, which is the creator for the particular almost-cure. The readers and the interviewer encounters him in Antarctica living in a great bio-dome that he rented from Russia to escape the apocalypse that hit the world some years ago. From the building that he is living, the readers can assume the idea that this character is somehow has a keen eye when he sees an opportunity to seize great amount of money. By the interview, he shows his greedy figure as he explains that shipping Phalanx was selling safe instead to secure safe. Unfortunately, the creator of this fake antidote was not the only one to be planning to walk out with the jackpot in his hands that the epidemic made. Similar selfishness that are involved with Phalanx is continued in part 4 of World War Z, as the character changes to the rapacious governmental character, Grover Carlson.

Grover Carlson appears as the White House chief and starts to explain the governments back of the curtain during the Great Denial. Like we see every day, the

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world is like a boiling pot of water. If a crucial dilemma that can kill ones families or the individual themselves rises up the surface, the people panic to grasp the last branch that is growing out on the cliff. Similarly, Carlson had to encounter this problem. The society was going mad because of the zombies, presidential elections were coming up, and they needed cold water to make things settle down. Conclusively, to calm the uprising, Carlson leaned on Scotts cure. Carlson did know that the cure would not work, but they sold it to the public anyways. He even seems to shout out to the interviewer when he questions again about the Phalanxs effect, backlashing to the cure of AIDS or the multiple cancers have not been invented. We knew Phalanx was a placebo, and we were grateful for it. It calmed people down and let us do our job (Brooks). Carlsons got his merit to win the presidential election with Phalanx, which gives the readers give a moment to refer back to how Breck Scott used Phalanx to become a millionaire to escape the great panic. The clever continuity of two entirely different people was hooked with the Phalanx, which makes the World War Z fall into the category of a novel, not a book of short sole stories.

The last story that Phalanx takes the readers is with Mary Jo Miller, a housewife that is interviewed in Montana. The interviewer confronts this housewife in a community that is currently under reconstruction. Reclaiming what happened before she escaped her old town with her family, the novels connection reaches even farther as it connects an ordinary housewife with the upper corrupted official and the egoistic millionaire scientist. With Marys story, the Phalanx safety has not stopped at the governments mind, but it infected the minds of the civilians as well. The crowd thought that buying these medicine will keep them safe from the African Rabies but as soon as Mary sees one zombie attacking her daughter, she realizes that Phalanx is nothing but an illusion that kept the minds safe. Miller leaped into the boiling pot as she observed the crowd craving for the last hope to

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survive during the apocalypse. Her desperation derived her to join the line that involves the individual greed that is associated with Phalanx. Mary Jo Miller is not a character that does not go close to Carlson, or Scott. Amidst of that, the element of self-indulgence and the false antivirus brings three corners into the middle, making the readers acknowledge the fact once more that the fiction Brooks is making is in fact, a novel with different characteristics in each chapter.

The connectivity in World War Z is shown not only with the story itself, each chapter includes a hint of what the readers should expect in the next chapter, along with the common idea that tied the separate chapters into one. Starting out Scott, he claims, I think they were already looking for a magic bullet... People dont need big government, they need big protection, and they need it big-time!(Brooks). Even though World War Z jumps around heavily between characters all of the world, before they do so, each chapter leaves a clue behind. For instance, in Scotts quote about the magic bullet equals Carlsons actions, while the latter quote gives a glimpse of Millers situations.

The narration of this novel brings up 2 topics to tie the characters together. First is the use of Phalanx. Second is the beneficial usage of the medication, which portrays the greed in human nature. In a state of a great crisis or confusion, humans tend to lack the sociability to cooperate with others, but to curl inside a barrier for them to stay alive. Like so, World War Z depicts that certain essence with Phalanx along with Carlson, Scott, and Miller. A battle or technology briefly mentioned by one interviewee in passing becomes a more major component of the tale several interviews further along in the novel (Silver). With a common topic, the interviewer connected the voices that were included in the book.

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Because of the different voices, World War Z was able to be more divergent and was able to make the readers more concentrate in to the novel. A narration can be everywhere. A novel does not have a stationary flow of what the writer must keep in order to be a New York Times bestseller. For Brooks World War Z: an oral interview of the zombie war, the writer cleverly sets up a big frame and coils in several topics to bring the separated casts together to make a steady flow of the book.

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Works Cited

Akner, Taffy B. "Max Brooks Is Not Kidding About the Zombie Apocalypse." The New York Times. New York Times, 21 June 2013. Web. 24 Nov. 2013.

Brooks, Max. World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. New York: Crown, 2006. Print.

Chappell. "The Lesser of Two Equals." The Lesser of Two Equals. Wordpress, 11 June 2008. Web. 25 Nov. 2013.

Conan, Neal. "What College Kids Can Learn From 'The Zombie War'" NPR. NPR, 10 Sept. 2012. Web. 24 Nov. 2013.

Silver, Steven H. "The SF Site Featured Review: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War." The SF Site Featured Review: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. The SF Site Reviews, 2006. Web. 24 Nov. 2013.