Critical response to Z for Zachariah by Robert C. OBrien Essay Example for Free

sarcastic response to Z for Zachariah by Robert C. OBrien EssayThe concord I read is Z for Zachariah by Robert C. OBrien. I enjoyed this tidings beca practice it contained some only when excellent characters and is full of mystery and suspense.Z for Zachariah is ab egress a sixteen-year-old girl, called Ann accuse who thinks she is the only person to survive a nuclear war. However, as her journal entries progress, you learn of a person in a green suit who is pulling what looks like a trailer covered with the said(prenominal) green material as the suit approaching Ann Burdens valley. Later in the diary you key out out that the person is a man who had been an industrial chemist before the war, working for the Government designing a suit to protect people in the change surfacet of a nuclear burst. His name is Mr Loomis and he is corrosion the only angiotensin converting enzyme of these suits.When Mr Loomis finally arrives in the valley, he is amazed by the feature tha t in that location is water, which appears to be safe but Mr Loomis makes unitary severe mistake. When he checks the water for the level of radiation with his Geiger counter he in fact checks the clean water in the stream but then goes on to feign further down the valley, where he finds Ann Burdens class where the polluted Burden brook is nearby. Once Mr Loomis has seen inside Anns sign of the zodiac (where Ann has cleverly hidden any clues that could show the visitor that in that respect has been people living in that respect recently) he then proceeds towards Burden Creek in the hope of getting his first bath in probably months.However, non realising that the stream and Creek are not connected and in fact the Creek runs into the valley from over the heap where the pollution is, he jumps right in. Within a very oblivious period of time after Mr Loomis has had his bath he became very ill, as he had been exposed to a lot of radiation. When Mr Loomis becomes sick Ann then a ttracts she will break to help him and that is when she first shows herself. Anns diary entries take you through with(predicate) the events that happen when she is and is not in the company of Mr Loomis.My favourite part of the book is the first three diary entries. In these diary entries Mr Loomis has not yet arrived in the valley however Ann has seen polecat from over the hill for three days, which she presumes is from a human made fire because it is in a thin column that it rises. The smoke comes at the same time everyday, in late afternoon. Each afternoon the smoke is nearer to Anns home. I like this part of the book the most because in it you find out what it has been like for Ann creation solely for so long because her family leftfield her to look for other people and had never returned. It is interesting to read Anns designs of organism excited and scared that she may in fact not be the only person left in the world. It is obvious wherefore Ann would be excited about s omeone else coming into the valley but maybe not so clear why she would be scared.Ann is scared because after the nuclear explosion some radio stations had still broadcasted, but towards the end of them broadcasting the presenters seemed to be going crazy. here is a quote from the second diary entry which will explain why Ann is scared presuppose a car came over the hill, and I ran out, and whoever was in it got out suppose he was crazy? Or suppose it was someone mean, or cruel, and brutal? A murderer? What could I do?After this quote, you realise that Ann is a very sensible and careful person because she decides to move her matters to a spelunk nearby her home and make it look as though no one has stopd in her house. That way she can break whoever is coming into her valley and if they are crazy or mean she can stay in the cave unbeknown to the visitor and wait until they leave. At the end of the third diary entry Ann has still not seen anyone but knows that they are camping at the crossroads and exploring North, South, East, West and when they come into the South they will find Anns valley.The most remarkable character in the book I think is Ann Burden. She is careful, mature, kind, helpful, sensible, confused, and strategic/logical. In the by-line paragraph I will explain why Ann Burden is all of the things I have just saidThe reason I think Ann is careful is because when Mr Loomis is first entering the valley she goes to the cave to live on that point as she does not know if Mr Loomis is safe. During the book Z for Zachariah you realise that in fact even though Ann is only sixteen she is to a greater extent mature than Mr Loomis who is quite a bit older than Ann. The create that shows this, is all of the oral communication I am using to describe her and she likewise thinks about having children to begin the human-race again. The manner of speaking kind, helpful and sensible describe Ann well because when Mr Loomis is ill with radiation poisoni ng she helps him and is kind to him even though hes a stranger.Also Ann still helps Mr Loomis after he tried to rape her she gives him half of everything i.e. eggs, milk and sensationalistic and lets him have the comforts of her home while she moves into the cave. It is obvious that Ann is confused, as she does not know why Mr Loomis is being so horrible to her especially when she has done everything she can to be nice to him and to help him. The last words to describe Ann are strategic and logical I think these words describe Ann well because when she does not want Mr Loomis to find her she thinks about what he can and cannot see e.g. when she take ins a fire she thinks about where and how to build it so Mr Loomis cant see it she also thinks about what time of the day to light it.The style of Z for Zachariah is in diary take a leak. Throughout the book there were not many figures of speech, however, there were a few similes, here is a quote from the book that describes Anns d og Faro when he has returned from the dead lands where there is radiation, in it there is a simile as thin as a skeleton. The structure of Z for Zachariah is in chronological order, each event contingency in an order that makes sense and makes the story more intense and interesting. During the book, there is not ofttimes direct speech as the genre of the book is in diary form so it contains more of the thoughts and feelings of Ann Burden.The themes in the book are effects of modern technology, survival, dominance, bullying, age against juvenility, optimism/realism, raising, art v science and religion v atheism. In the following sentences, I will discuss the themes that evanesce in Z for Zachariah. The first theme effects of modern technology is the theme that allowed the story to occur because zero in the book would have happened had there not been a nuclear explosion. The themes of survival, dominance and age against youth are all linked together and are in a way very homogen eous to each other. These three themes are perchance the strongest and most occurring ones throughout the book, I will explain why survival of course is going to be a major issue, Ann is the one who thinks about this the most having thought of growing her own crops, so when the supplies run out in the shop she will still have food to survive, and that is just one example.Throughout the book Mr Loomis tries to be the stereotypical Alpha male, he wants everything to be done his own way and to be done by him. For example when Ann said she would go into the townsfolk with the safe suit to collect books, even though Mr Loomis is still ill he refuses to let her go, perhaps thinking she is incapable or he could have been worried she wouldnt come back with the safe suit, although I think the first scenario is more likely. The only time Mr Loomis seemed to let Ann do things her way is when he could not do things for himself, however, he never admitted it. Age against youth is another stron g theme as throughout the book you realise that Mr Loomis even though he is older he is not always wiser and more mature, in fact Ann is definitely the more mature of the two characters. Optimism and realism are two words that can explain Ann and Mr Loomis completely different personalities.Ann being the optimist who thinks that the results of an action will always be skillful and Mr Loomis being the realist he makes decisions based on facts and not on false hope. Throughout the book breeding is a theme, but more with Ann she thinks towards the future and beginning the human-race again. The theme of art v science is one that occurs throughout the book. As Ann is interested in art and Mr Loomis is interested in science, a few quarrels occur between them. However, quarrels is perhaps the wrong word because Mr Loomis always seemed to get his own way. Again, I will use the example of when Ann wanted to use the safe suit to collect some engineering and physics books for Mr Loomis she a lso suggested that she get some for herself. Such as poetry.Yet Mr Loomis refused and said, You could not go. Understand that. Keep away from the suit. never touch it. After Mr Loomis had given Ann his lecture, she could not understand why he had become so angry. It was satisfactory if he wanted something but as soon as Ann wanted something to do with her interests, it was too much of a risk. Religion v atheism is a theme in the book. Ann being the religious one and Mr Loomis the atheist. I dont think Ann is strongly religious, I just think she finds going to the church and praying a cheering factor. Earlier I said Mr Loomis is an atheist. This means that he doesnt believe that any god or gods exist, indeed he does not understand why Ann would want to go to the church and waste her time praying.I enjoyed this book because there were few characters, which allowed you to get to know them better. I also liked the style of the book being in diary form because you didnt have to read t he minute by minute accounts of what is happening in the book you only get to read the exciting and more intense parts which would be written in a diary. The thing that made the book a smallish boring was the fact that there werent many different figures of speech.The length I though was too long, some parts of the book seemed to be dragged out to give it a longer length, for example when Mr Loomis is sick the book got a little boring because in the diary entries you really were only told what Ann had did that day, there wasnt enough character interaction. One thing that I thought ruined the book was the ending, I thought it was exciting when you were told that there was hope that there could be other people still living and you wanted to keep reading and know if there was anyone else out there, but it just stopped. Taking the entire book into account my opinion is that it is quite good as I think it gives a good insight into what could happen if there is a nuclear explosion it i s realistic.