Though it is easy to get caught up in the excitement of zombies, “Days Gone By”, Volume 1 in Robert Kirkman’s graphic novel series The Walking Dead, addresses a much deeper theme of what humanity and morality will be like in an apocalyptic world. In demonstrating the toll the apocalypse takes on humanity and morality, the author makes several fundamental assumptions about human nature and psychology. Furthermore, the author makes some assumptions about the political landscape in a post apocalyptic world. The work assumes that humans will do their best to stick with what they know how to do, and in some cases will exhibit denial that a change is necessary to survival. This is present at the beginning of the graphic novel when Rick continues …show more content…
Although Duane struck him with a shovel the first time they met, his father Morgan and him took Rick in, shared supplies with him, and explained the new world they now lived in. Glenn also showed extreme kindness as he risked his own life to get supplies for the group on multiple occasions. Additionally, he rescued Rick from certain death, even after Rick compromised Glenn’s safety by attracting zombies with his gun. This act of kindness eventually reunited Ricks family. Dale also shows kindness by letting the group use his camper, allowing them to shower and even allowing some to sleep in his …show more content…
In the article “Zombies, International Relations, and the Production of Danger”, the author presents many paradigms about how the government may react in the wake of a zombie apocalypse. The first paradigm is the realist paradigm which essentially states that states would react to zombies the same way as they react to every other threat. Namely, they would “continue to go about seeking power and accumulating resources...” The next paradigm, the liberal paradigm asserts that countries would band together in the face of a zombie outbreak and form organizations to coordinate efficient responses. Another paradigm is neoconservatism. According to this paradigm, governments will want to be on the offense and attack the problem head on. The final paradigm, social constructivism, predicts that the zombie apocalypse will bring nations together, and they will share resources as well as an identity. Within the graphic novel, a definitive answer as to what has become of the government is not given. This seems to indicate the author believes the government would be ill-prepared for apocalypse. However, it could be argued that the government followed the realist paradigm because they did not treat the outbreak differently than they would any other threat. Specifically, at the very beginning of the outbreak the government attempted to follow