Man Causes the Destruction of the Human Race: "I Am Legend" and "Z For Zachariah"

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The film ‘I Am Legend’ and the novel ‘Z For Zachariah’ were chosen to be studied together for my connected text assignment. Originally I chose the film because I enjoyed it; I then matched it to a text based on similarities in theme. Both ‘I Am Legend’ and ‘Z For Zachariah’ are based on the same theme; that of man as the cause of the destruction of the human race. While the settings and characters are vastly different; as is the cause of destruction, both the main characters are faced with tough decisions that must be made in order to survive a major man made disaster. Both characters must deal with the enormity of the notion that they could be one of the last humans alive on earth.

The movie ‘I am legend’ revolves around a heavily built colonel in the United States Army, Robert Neville; who was stationed in New York City. As well as being involved in the US Army, Robert was a scientist who was married and had a young daughter. He was in charge of the evacuation of New York City as a result of the outbreak of the airborne Krippin Virus. During the evacuation his family was killed in a helicopter accident. As New York City was within Robert’s jurisdiction; he felt it was solely his responsibility to set things straight. QUOTES

In contrast to the powerful Robert Neville is the young and innocent, 16 year old Ann Burden. She too suffers from the reality that she may be the only person left alive on the face of the earth. Unlike Robert who lives in the city, Ann lives out on a small farm property in the countryside of America; which is a short distance from the local town, Ogdentown. It was to this town her family ventured in search of life and supplies, but never returned. Luckily Ann is self-sufficient and is able to run her f...

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...the world. For Robert, the stranger (Anna and her sone Ethan) had a positive influence on his life. It was Anna who saved Robert from the Darkseekers and it was because of their hope that Robert sacrificed himself to save both Anna and Ethan and his newly discovered cure for the Krippin Virus. The final symbol of hope in the movie ‘I am Legend’ is the existence of the human settlement where Anna and Ethan hand over the cure.

On the other hand; the stranger in Ann’s life, John Loomis, had an extremely negative impact. Mr Loomis presents a major threat to Ann’s life and scares her out of her own home. It was his intrusion that led to the death of her dog and drove Ann to make the decision to escape and find other life. While we do not find out what happened to Ann in the end, we are filled with hope by her viewing of the birds flying around in the poisoned habitat.

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