Zone One by Colson Whitehead

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Zone One by Colson Whitehead
Zone One is a novel about Mark Spitz, who has to live in an era when a plague infects Earth. The plague has affected everyone globally, and it entails transforming humans into skels and stragglers zombies through a bite. Mark Spitz and his fellow sweepers are responsible for cleaning out the zombies from Zone One, and the main objective is to restore the place to being habitable for humans again (O'Neill 62). The sweepers have no military training but are equipped with artillery and combat weapons to help them fight the skels and stragglers. Through various events that occur in the novel, the paper will discuss what the Whitehead means when he uses the word "pristine artifacts of normalcy."
 To begin with, the novel is narrated in flashbacks, depicting Mark Spitz's life before the plague and during the plague. In Mark Spitz's past life as a child, he visited his Uncle Lloyd in New York. Consequently, this is where his desire to live in the city had developed. He even referred to Manhattan as a place where human beings worked harmoniously (Whitehead 5). Mark Spitz had always longed to be a resident of New York City because of its beauty and how people did things. He even envisioned himself having all of New York City to himself (Whitehead 6). Although in life before the plague, Mark Spitz is depicted as an average, everyday man who had nothing special to make him stand out. He turns out to be a very important part of society's restoration to its former glory. As an adult, he finds himself in a situation where his parents have been transformed into zombies, and the city he adored is in ruins. He has to ensure that the city's former prestige is restored, which is why he joins the Omega Unit. The unit consists of Mark, Spitz, Kaitlyn, and Gary. The team has to work together to ensure that things get back to normal. Kaitlyn is their leader and gives them instructions on what to do.
 
Additionally, since Kaitlyn is the leader of the Omega Unit, she feels obligated to do what is right and honorable. Therefore after Omega has swept one Manhattan block after another, she feels compelled to salvage items she deems important (Whitehead 57). Kaitlyn had lived a good life and enjoyed many good things as a child and an adult. Before the plague, she had even been elected twice as a leader in college. Just like how Mark Spitz deemed New York as amazing due to development and technology, Katlyn also yawned to have the city restored to its former glory (O'Neill 70). As described by Mark Spitz, Kaitlyn has always been favored as she enjoyed all her birthday parties and did whatever she wanted. Consequently, she wants to ensure that the city she once knew as beautiful is restored by making sure she collects all the important artifacts.
 Furthermore, as a young girl, Kaitlyn had never been an average person. Instead, she was considered to have enjoyed life, and, therefore, she wanted that life back. Therefore, Whitehead uses the wor...