Zombie March Summary

Dead corpses rising, marching to an unknown future, an unknown cause – this is the nature of what the plot of “Zombie March” incorporates. The uniqueness of the text in this story is enhanced not only by the general theme, which is entirely different than other stories categorized under these genres, but also by the type of humor present. The protagonist, Amber Riley, was waiting for her husband to return, but after his death was confirmed, Amber became lonesome and henceforth kept a shotgun in her home, near the door (MacNabb, 2012, para. 1). Following the return of her husband as a walking, and talking, corpse, she was (oddly) not too shocked – however, it complements the theme of the story – but remained edgy. After she told her “dead” husband to leave, she had subsequent, eerie, visits from the so-called “marching dead”. Two zombies came to her door to inform her that the rising of the dead was due to her husband’s promise to return to her, refusing to remain dead (MacNabb, 2012, para. 27). This left her in confusion, to the point where she questioned the value of life. The moral of this story is conveyed clearly, describing the power of the individual, and that of love.

The literal sense is expressed as the moral, where the power of the individual, and of love, is great. However, the figurative sense describes the fact that zombies have emotions, in contrast to what is usually displayed in other works of fiction about zombies. The author expresses this view powerfully, as it is seen in-text when one zombie states: “When he stood up, somebody else realized he could” (MacNabb, 2012, para. 29). Another example is when she asked, “He started a whole damn movement, huh?” (MacNabb, 2012, para. 28). Additional evidence presented, by the author, to support her ideas occur mainly in the form of humor. The story is “saturated” in humor masking woe, particularly presented by the protagonist as a