Events in WWZ
Fact or Fiction?
Max Brooks' World War Z ties in real-world places with fiction into his book. I have created a map and timeline to pinpoint key events and locations from the novel. I have chosen 5 significant moments or places and analyzed their connection to real history. By placing these events on a map and timeline, the novel's visual representation of reality and imagination start to show. (I attached links to the pictures of where I found them.)
The Great Panic
The Great Panic is triggered by the news of the ineffectiveness of a widely marketed placebo vaccine called Phalanx (Brooks 2006, 34). This shatters public trust and exposes the true deadliness of the Solanum virus. This was a worldwide phenomenon. The Great Panic can be related to the COVID-19 outbreak, with many people freaking out over the virus. The map can show how large of a scale news can spread across the world.
Patient Zero
Patient Zero, the first person infected with the world-ending virus, is hidden in mystery. The book hints at a young boy from a remote Chinese village, but the cause of the infection is never confirmed (Brooks 2006, 5). Whether it arose naturally or was man-made, like a weapon from North Korea, is left unanswered. This event can correlate with many pandemics like COVID-19, the Spanish Flu, the Black Death, etc. This map shows the origin of patient zero and the beginning of the zombie outbreak.
Standoff of Claremont
This fictional battle had taken place in Claremont, California, five colleges, Pomona, Pitzer, Scripps, Harvey Mudd, and Claremont Mckenna all came together to fight as a whole. 300 students fortified their college (Scripps) into a fortress. Armed with gardening tools and leftover rifles, they held off a staggering 10,000 zombies. They even grew their food and dug wells but they slowly lost the ground with the increasing amount of zombies (Brooks 2006, 96). This map shows the location and resources that were used by the college students to help defend themselves.
The Redeker Plan
The Redeker Plan, a fictional government strategy in the novel to sacrifice a portion of the population to save the rest, could be seen as a commentary on real-world historical decisions made during times of crisis, though it has no direct parallel in actual history (Brooks 2006, 62). This map shows all the safe zones that were available using the Redeker plan.
Battle of Yonkers (Yonkers, USA)
This fictional battle takes place in Yonkers, New York, as the United States military attempts to push back against the zombie horde. It is a significant event in the novel, showcasing the military's initial underestimation of the zombie threat (Brooks 2006, 61). This event has no significant effect on recorded history because there has not been a zombie attack yet. This map helps show readers the dense city and how a lack of preparation can lead to catastrophic events if something bad were to happen.