On the other hand, Gary is punished for his cruelty to the stragglers when he plays with the inanimate body of a fortune teller and it awakes and bites him, forcing him to kill himself before he too becomes zombified. Here, Whitehead suggests that Mark's ability to emphasize and care for those around him is an important factor in his survival. To him, killing the stragglers is an act of mercy a way to free them from their horrible situation. Whereas Gary and No Mas express contempt for the stragglers and often treat them in demeaning ways, Mark treats them with dignity and sees resemblances between them and the people he loved before the plague. Most importantly, he feels compassion towards the stragglers and skels. Indeed, he protects and cares for Kaitlyn and Gary even though they share little in common. While Mark might be an entirely unexceptional person, he nonetheless possesses an incredible amount of compassion. Of course, Whitehead is not suggesting that hope is dangerous or useless but rather that there is a limit to the power of hope. Mark's ability to think realistically and act pragmatically–to not be distracted by dreams of the future–has kept him alive. While one could read Mark's abandonment of hope as a tragic outcome, Whitehead alternatively suggests that it is an essential factor in Mark's survival. Instead of imagining what life could be like in the future, Mark always focuses on the situation around him. In other words, hope is a dangerous distraction from the reality in which he finds himself. Mark Spitz, however, shares a very different relationship to hope. For some, hope is necessary in order to keep striving the horrors of life after the plague.

Likewise, The Tromanhauser Triplets are described as being 'localized hope' (p. Characters hope for a cure to the plague and hope that things may eventually return to normal. As Whitehead makes clear throughout the novel, anyone can be a hero – even those who seem the least likely. In this way, Mark Spitz appears as a pointed response to the traditional hero figure. Yet instead of hindering him, Whitehead suggests that Mark Spitz's mediocrity was essential to his survival because 'now the world was mediocre, rendering him perfect' (p. He had led a mediocre life exceptional only in the magnitude of its unexceptionality.” (p. As Whitehead writes: “He was a mediocre man. In fact, he's described as being average to the point of mediocrity. In Zone One, however, Whitehead repeatedly emphasizes the fact that Mark Spitz is entirely unexceptional. Typically, these heroes possess extraordinary traits, be they strength, intelligence, or courage.

The history of literature is full of heroic figures, from Odysseus to Harry Potter.

Zone one novel