Apocalypse
Apocalypse: An Analysis of Society’s Fears of the Evils of Prejudices and Alienation! “It’s the end of the world as we know it!” The musical band REM stated it best in the lyrics of their hit song titled “It’s the End of The World”: “It’s the end of the world as we know it (It’s time I had some time alone) and I feel fine, fine”(REM). There have been many stories written throughout history highlighting the total destruction of societies and revelations of the future, otherwise known as an apocalypse. One such story of an apocalypse is Richard Matheson’s novel, I Am Legend. The novel is a cautionary tale of the evils of our society such as isolationism, alienation, as well as racism from the days past to the ever evolving future and the path the world is taking to not repeat them through the story’s unraveling of plot and character development. Matheson utilizes a unique plot structure to help identify fictional effects of the apocalyptic themes of alienation and loneliness within the novel. The story unfolds within four different parts. The exposition of the story is revealed in Part I of the book where Neville’s most basic need and engagement for survival against the vampires begins. This exposition continues into Part II which details Neville’s investigation to gain a better understanding of the new vampires. Part III of the book details Neville’s interaction with a new “confidante” with whom to share this new knowledge in which the climax of the story begins. Finally, in Part IV, the story concludes the climax and details the resolution of the story with the separation and battle between the “old” vampires and the newly mutated vampires. As the story unfolds within these parts, Matheson utilizes flashbacks to help detail pertinent information from Neville’s “previous” life with his wife, child, and friends to help provide a greater insight to the backstory of Neville’s “earlier life”. A similar plot structure can be seen in the conflicts and
Cited: Matheson, Richard. I Am Legend. 2nd. New York: A Tor Book, 1995. 159. Print. Toppo, Gregg. "10 years later, the real story behind Columbine." USA Today 04 14 2009, n. pag. Web. 20 Jul. 2012. . Shah, Anup. “Racism.” Global Issues. 08 Aug. 2010. Web. 19 Jul. 2012. http://www.globalissues.org/article/165/racism. Black, Edwin. "Eugenics and the Nazis -- the California connection." San Francisco Chronicle [San Francisco] 09 November 2003, n. pag. Web. 20 Jul. 2012. . REM, . Its the End of the World. 1987. Song. Absolute LyricsWeb. 21 Jul 2012.