Z for Zachariah

Last updated

Z for Zachariah
ZforZachariah.png
First edition
Author Robert C. O'Brien
Cover artistLarry Rostant
LanguageEnglish
Genre Adult, science fiction
Published1974 (G K Hall)
Publication placeUnited States
Media typeHardback, paperback, e-book
Pages192 (276 in hardback version)
ISBN 978-1-4169-3921-4 (paperback)

Z for Zachariah is a post-apocalyptic science-fiction novel by Robert C. O'Brien that was published posthumously in 1974. The name Robert C. O'Brien was the pen name used by Robert Leslie Conly. After the author's death in March 1973, his wife Sally M. Conly and daughter Jane Leslie Conly completed the work, guided by his notes. [1] Set in the continental territory of the United States, it is written from the first-person perspective as the diary of sixteen-year-old Ann Burden. Burden has survived nuclear war and nerve gas by living in a small valley with an isolated microclimate.

Contents

According to Sally Conly in summer 1972, Z for Zachariah would be her husband's "second adult novel" following the months-old science-fiction thriller A Report from Group 17 . [2] O'Brien had previously established himself as a children's writer with novels The Silver Crown (1968) and Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (1971). In the event, Z for Zachariah was a runner-up for the 1976 Jane Addams Children's Book Award [3] [4] and it won the Edgar Award for best mystery fiction in the juvenile category.

Plot summary

Ann Burden is a teenage girl who believes she is the last survivor of a nuclear war. Since her family's disappearance on a search expedition, she has lived alone on her farm in a small valley spared from radiation poisoning. A year after the war, a stranger in a radiation-proof suit approaches her valley. Afraid he might be dangerous, Ann hides in a cave and does not warn the man when he mistakenly bathes in a radioactive stream. When he falls ill, her fear of being alone forever leads her to reveal herself to help him. She discovers that the stranger is John Loomis, a chemist who helped design a prototype radiation-proof "safe-suit" at an underground lab near Ithaca, New York. Ann moves him into her house and fantasizes about eventually marrying him.

Loomis becomes delirious, with traumatic flashbacks to the underground lab. He talks of how he shot his coworker, Edward, who tried to take the safe-suit to find his family. Though troubled by this revelation, Ann nurses him through his illness and keeps secret her knowledge of Edward's death. As Loomis recovers, Ann is taken aback when he forbids her to touch the safe-suit and begins giving her orders on farming and managing resources. His explanation that they have to plan "as if this valley is the whole world and we are starting a colony," makes her uneasy. [5] Her uneasiness increases when she asks if he was ever married, and he grabs her hand roughly, rebuking her when she accidentally hits him while trying to regain her balance. One night soon afterwards, she awakes to hear Loomis in her room. When he attempts to rape her, she flees to the cave again.

Later, Ann approaches Loomis and proposes sharing the valley and farm work but living apart. He professes surprise when she tells him she won't live with him anymore and asks why, as if he has no idea. Ann remembers that he acted the same after he had grabbed her hand, "as if nothing had happened, or as if he had forgotten it." [6] She refuses to justify her choice to him, to tell him where she is living, or to come back to live with him. Loomis answers that he has no choice but to accept her proposal, though he hopes she will reconsider and "act more like an adult and less like a schoolgirl". [7] Though the arrangement is "unnatural and uneasy," and Ann worries about surviving winter, she sticks by her decision and wishes Loomis had never come. [8] Loomis locks the store, cutting off her supplies. When she approaches him for the key, Loomis shoots her in the ankle. Ann flees, realizing that he had not shot to kill, only to lame her to make her easy to capture. Loomis uses her dog, Faro, to track her to the cave, where he burns her belongings, though Ann escapes. Ann's ankle wound becomes infected. As she recovers, she has feverish dreams of another valley where children wait for her to teach them. Ann comes to believe the dreams may be true and Loomis is insane, so she plans to steal the safe-suit and find her dream valley. Moreover, she decides to kill Faro to prevent Loomis from tracking her, though she is later unable to do so. However, Faro is fatally poisoned swimming across the dead creek to her.

Ann finally acts on her plan. She lures Loomis from the house with a note offering to talk if he meets her unarmed, then steals the safe-suit and waits for Loomis to arrive. When he does, she reveals her knowledge of Edward's murder, which shocks Loomis enough to stop him from shooting her. He begs her not to leave him alone. Ann tells him she will send people to him if she finds any, and leaves. Loomis's last action is to call out that he once saw birds circling to the west. Ann walks west into the irradiated zone, hoping to see a green horizon.

Title

It is revealed that, as a child, Ann had owned a Biblical ABC book which mentioned the prophet Zachariah. She remembers thinking that if Adam (who was used for the letter "A") was the first man on earth, Zachariah (who represented the letter "Z") must be the last, and likens this to her status as the last survivor of the war.

Setting

The story's events are set almost entirely in Burden Valley, a small and remote valley somewhere in the USA. It was named after the protagonist's ancestors, who were its first settlers and built a farm in the northern end. The only other inhabitants were the Kleins, a couple who owned the store and mainly did business with Amish farmers to the south.

The valley is approximately 4 miles long, from Burden Hill in the north to an S-shaped pass in the south called "the gap". The largest of its two streams, Burden Creek, is radioactive because its source is outside the valley. It runs parallel to the road from north to south and exits the valley through the gap. A smaller stream originates from a deep spring on an eastern hillside and feeds a small lake with fish that provide a food source for Ann. The stream then meanders south and joins Burden Creek. Much of the valley is made up of woodlands.

Ann initially thinks the animals in the Valley are probably the last of their species; however, at the end of the book Loomis reveals he has seen birds flying in the distance west of the valley, which implies other life as well. There are rabbits and squirrels in the valley. There are also some crows, which Ann believes survived because only they had the "sense" to stay in the valley, while other birds migrated. [9] There are two cows, a bull calf, and chickens on Ann's farm. [10] Finally, there is the dog, Faro, who belonged to Ann's cousin David.

The most important feature of the valley is that it is somehow separated from the surrounding atmosphere and has its own weather system. [11] Loomis calls it a meteorological enclave created by an inversion (i.e., air only rising, not falling), but he views its existence as so unlikely that it is only a theoretical possibility. [12]

Major themes

Seeing the story as a conflict between an innocent girl and a domineering male scientist bent on controlling the valley, reviewers have found themes such as the destructiveness of science (at least when it is separated from conscience), the corrupting effect of the desire for power, and the moral value of individual freedom. Ann's sensitivity and love of nature are viewed as contrasting with Loomis' callous reasoning and selfish compulsion to take control. Writing for The Spectator in April 1975, Peter Ackroyd concludes that "science turns paradise sour." [13] Reviews the same year in The Junior Bookshelf [14] and Times Literary Supplement [15] described Ann as an unwilling Eve who "finally refuses to begin the whole story over again." Another major theme of this book is survival, because the whole story is about surviving after a nuclear holocaust.

Adaptations

Soon after the book was published it was serialised in the UK in the teenage magazine Jackie (magazine) .

In February 1984, the BBC presented a film adaptation for its Play for Today series in which the setting was changed from America to Wales.

Z for Zachariah , a 2015 film adaptation of the novel premiered in January 2015 with financing from Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and Material Pictures. Eschewing the central Adam/Eve theme and its deconstruction of abusive and controlling relationships, it adds a third character and involves a love triangle. It stars Margot Robbie, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Chris Pine. Craig Zobel directs from an adapted script by Nissar Modi. [16] [17] [18] Filming took place on New Zealand's Banks Peninsula [19] and in the small former coal mining town of Welch, West Virginia. [20]

Related Research Articles

<i>Traders</i> (TV series) 1996 Canadian TV series or program

Traders is a Canadian television drama series, which was broadcast on Global Television Network from 1996 to 2000 and CBC Television from 1997 to 1998. The series centred on the employees of Gardner Ross, an investment bank in the Bay Street financial district of Toronto, Ontario.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucy A. Delaney</span> African American writer and activist (1830–1910)

Lucy Delaney was an African American seamstress, slave narrator, and community leader. She was born into slavery and was primarily held by the Major Taylor Berry and Judge Robert Wash families. As a teenager, she was the subject of a freedom lawsuit, because her mother lived in Illinois, a free state, longer than 90 days. According to Illinois state law, enslaved people that reside in Illinois for more than 90 days should be indentured and freed. The country's rule of partus sequitur ventrem asserts that if the mother was free at the child's birth, the child should be free. After Delaney's mother, Polly Berry, filed a lawsuit for herself, she filed a lawsuit on her daughter's behalf in 1842. Delaney was held in jail for 17 months while awaiting the trial.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polly Berry</span> Plaintiff in St. Louis freedom suits

Polly Berry was an African American woman notable for winning two freedom suits in St. Louis, one for herself, which she won in 1843, and one for her daughter Lucy, which she won in 1844. Having acquired the surnames of her slaveholders, she was also known as Polly Crockett and Polly Wash, the latter of which was the name used in her freedom suit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Webster</span> Fictional character from Coronation Street

Kevin Webster is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street. Portrayed by Michael Le Vell, the character first appeared on-screen during the episode airing on 19 October 1983. Le Vell was suspended from the soap in February 2013 due to allegations of sexual offences, with scenes he had already filmed cut from broadcast. Le Vell was found not guilty of all charges in September 2013, and briefly returned in early 2014, before taking another 3-month break from the show and returning once again.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert C. O'Brien (author)</span> American novelist (1918–1973)

Robert Leslie Carroll Conly, better known by his pen name Robert C. O'Brien, was an American novelist and a journalist for National Geographic magazine. He is best known for his 1971 children's novel Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, which was adapted to the 1982 animated film The Secret of NIMH.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weatherfield</span> Fictional town in England

Weatherfield is a fictional town based on Salford, Greater Manchester, which has been the setting for the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street since its inception in 1960. Much of Weatherfield has been seen by viewers throughout the years, though the primary focus from the viewer's perspective is the eponymous Coronation Street, a cobbled street where many of the programme's characters live. The soap opera is often shot on location around Salford and the neighbouring large city of Manchester, as its filming studios, the Granada Studios complex on Quay Street in Manchester city centre and its replacement set MediaCityUK in Salford Quays, only house the outdoor sets of Coronation Street and its immediate surrounding streets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laurie Strode</span> Character in the Halloween franchise

Laurie Strode is a character from the Halloween series. She first appeared in Halloween (1978) as a high school student who becomes targeted by serial killer Michael Myers, in which she was portrayed by Jamie Lee Curtis. Created by John Carpenter and Debra Hill, Laurie appeared in nine of thirteen films in the series. The character has subsequently been represented in various other media, including novels, video games, and comic books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane Leslie Conly</span> American childrens writer

Jane Leslie Conly is an American author, the daughter of author Robert C. O'Brien. She started her literary work by finishing the manuscript for her father's Z for Zachariah in 1974 after his death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jenny Bradley</span> Fictional character from Coronation Street

Jenny Connor is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, played by Sally Ann Matthews. She made her first appearance on-screen on 6 January 1986. Originally fostered by Rita Fairclough, she has been featured in storylines including her troubled relationship with her father and Rita's partner, Alan Bradley, his death when he is killed in a tram accident after chasing Rita in Blackpool and a brief underage romance with married man Robert Weston, their separation in 1991 led to Jenny leaving Weatherfield on 1 March 1991.

The Ingo tetralogy is a series of four children's novels, set in Cornwall, by British author Helen Dunmore. The four books are, in chronological order, Ingo, The Tide Knot, The Deep and The Crossing of Ingo. The first book was nominated for the 2008 Booktrust Teenage Prize.

Philippa Lucy Hinchley is an English actress who played Elaine Fenwick in Coronation Street. She has also been in The Bill, Bugs, Doctors, Holby City and EastEnders.

<i>Waterfront Lady</i> 1935 film by Joseph Santley

Waterfront Lady is a 1935 American film directed by Joseph Santley and starring Ann Rutherford, in her feature film debut, and Frank Albertson.

<i>A Report from Group 17</i> 1972 novel by Robert C. OBrien

A Report from Group 17, published in 1972, is a science-fiction thriller written by Robert Leslie Conly under his pen name Robert C. O'Brien. Set in Washington, D.C., during the Cold War, the story deals particularly with the danger of developing bioweapons. The potential cause of conflict is a resurgence of Nazism in Europe. A 12-year-old girl who lives near a Soviet estate in Maryland becomes a victim of intrigue when she is kidnapped for use as an experimental subject. Themes include the threat of modern war to human survival, the moral responsibility of scientists, and the importance of both individual freedom and sympathetic instincts. Following two novels for children, A Report from Group 17 was the first of two dystopian novels that O'Brien wrote for adults. His last novel, Z for Zachariah (1974), depicts a conflict between two survivors of a nuclear war and deals with similar themes.

<i>Z for Zachariah</i> (film) 2015 film

Z for Zachariah is a 2015 apocalyptic science fiction film directed by Craig Zobel and starring Margot Robbie, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Chris Pine. Written by Nissar Modi, it is based on the 1974 posthumously published book of the same name by Robert C. O'Brien, though the plot differs in some significant ways. The film's plot has also been compared to the 1959 Harry Belafonte movie The World, the Flesh and the Devil, about a love triangle between a black engineer, white woman, and white man who may be the last people on Earth. The film was released on August 28, 2015, in the United States by Roadside Attractions. It received generally positive reviews from critics who praised the lead actors' performances. It had a limited theatrical release, simultaneously releasing on video on demand platforms, and grossed $121,461 at the domestic US box office.

<i>The Great Spy Chase</i> 1964 French film

Les Barbouzes is a 1964 French cult comedy film, screened in the United States as The Great Spy Chase. Starring Lino Ventura, Bernard Blier and Mireille Darc, with dialogue by Michel Audiard, it is an espionage caper built around the efforts of agents from various countries to extract valuable weaponry patents from the young and attractive widow of an international arms dealer.

References

  1. ↑ "About the Author". O'Brien, Robert C. Z for Zachariah [1974]. New York: Simon Pulse. 2007.
  2. ↑ O'Brien, Sally M. [Sally M. Conly]. "About Robert C. O'Brien". The Horn Book Magazine (August 1972): 349–51. Reprinted by Boris Masis (borism.net) as "About Robert C. O'Brien by Sally M. O'Brien" in "Robert C. O'Brien", The Z for Zachariah Nuclear Comparison Page (borism.net/zforz), 1997.
  3. ↑ "Janeaddamspeace.org" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 April 2016. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
  4. ↑ Cullinan, Bernice E. and Diane Goetz. The Continuum Encyclopedia of Children's Literature, New York: The Continuum International Publishing Group, 2005. p. 598. ISBN   0826415164
  5. ↑ O'Brien, p. 152.
  6. ↑ O'Brien, p. 189.
  7. ↑ O'Brien, p. 190.
  8. ↑ O'Brien, p. 192, 195.
  9. ↑ O'Brien, p. 29.
  10. ↑ O'Brien, p. 10.
  11. ↑ O'Brien, p. 40.
  12. ↑ O'Brien, p. 56.
  13. ↑ Ackroyd, Peter. The Spectator (April 12, 1975), Masis, Boris. "Z for Zachariah Reviews". The Z for Zachariah Nuclear Comparison Page. 1997.
  14. ↑ The Junior Bookshelf v.39 (June 1975), Masis, Boris. "Z for Zachariah Reviews". The Z for Zachariah Nuclear Comparison Page. 1997.
  15. ↑ Times Literary Supplement (April 4, 1975), Masis, Boris. "Z for Zachariah Reviews". The Z for Zachariah Nuclear Comparison Page. 1997.
  16. ↑ Hsx.com
  17. ↑ Empireonline.com
  18. ↑ Smh.com.au
  19. ↑ Stuff.co.nz
  20. ↑ Internet Movie Database
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.