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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 usually takes one of three different forms: a first person narrator, who is usually also the protagonist; a third person narrator, who is usually also a character within the story; or an omniscient narrator, who is not part of the story and who is able to incorporate several viewpoints. Max Brooks 2006 zombie genre novel World War Z takes an unconventional approach to the narrative- the story is told by 42 different voices through interviews all done by the same 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. Because there is such realism that are included in each chapter, World War Z is incredible in a way of acting as a mirror to our society. Max Brooks himself mentioned a sentence or two on his interviews about the time that he spent for each fake interview that he was writing about. He used satellite pictures, news articles, videos to make catch each distinctive characteristics of each particular character. [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

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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 attracting those who are interested in history and cultural anthropology, as well. This book portrays a global picture of the zombie war by weaving in different stories of each character. Each character; however, there are several elements such as cultures, morals, or even substances like medications that show up frequently to create a connectivity between the seemingly random interviews and the divergent cast of characters. One of the topics that comes up in several interviews is the false antibiotics for the zombie infection, Phalanx. Phalanx and the personal greed that various perspectives about it are used to create continuity between several interviews, thereby creating a coherent story told in many voices. 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 actions 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.

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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 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

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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.

The connectivity in World War Z is shown with Phalanx, however, the first real derivative of the continuity in the association of fear that is tied in to the vaccination. Looking back from Breck Scotts story, he mentions in the first paragraph about the idea of fear from a professor that he knows. Turn on the TV People selling the fear of you having to live without their products (Brooks Ch.11). From fear, Breck found a chance to make money from his products, and because of fear, he was able to run away from the world when everyone was dying from the apocalypse. Scotts idea of Fear Sells continues with the next character Grover Carlson. Carlson is incorporated with fear along with the problem of the election year. He feared that if he told the nation about the truth that was behind Phalanx, he thought he would lose his place in the government. That is why he leaned on to Phalanx to keep the media and the states quiet so he can gain power. The last character, Mary Jo Miller accounts into the idea of fear as she recognizes that her children might be infected with the unknown disease. The sentence associated with Breck comes back to Millers situation of the public buying Phalanx because of the idea of fear. Miller bought the vaccine to prevent the fear that was sinking into her family; she soon found out that everything was a lie. The second continuity that is assembled in the story is the roles that is connected with the vaccine. For Breck Scott, he was the creator of the drug. Carlson was the distributor of the vaccine to the public. Miller was the acceptor of the false cure. These two factors gradually makes a thread that ties the three different characters together in the novel.

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The first appearance of Phalanx is just an ordinary substance to the readers that encounter Breck Scotts chapter. However, the substance builds on its symbolism as it progresses in the story. 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. 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.