Tom And Benny Imura Character Analysis

Tom and Benny Imura live in a post-apocalyptic world where zombies have taken over most of the land and the remaining human survivors stay locked behind tall walls or fences. Benny is about to turn 15, and in the survivor town of Mountainside, that means he must get a job or he would lose half his rations. His older brother Tom wants him to join the family business. Tom is a renowned zombie hunter. But Benny isn’t interested in having anything to do with his brother, even if he “got to whack some real zoms” (Maberry, 2011, Ch. 1). He thinks Tom is a coward—after all, his first memory is of Tom taking him and running, leaving his mother to die on First Night. She had been wearing a white dress with red sleeves, and he remembered she was screaming (Maberry Ch. 40). He idolizes the other bounty hunters who live in town. They’re so much cooler than Tom, they’ve killed thousands of zombies and they make lots of ration dollars. But after hating every job he tried, Benny finally breaks down and asks Tom for a job. When Tom brings Benny with him to the ruin for the first time, Benny learns that he had it all wrong. Nothing is at all what he thought it was.

Yes, the zombies have all the common traits found in the classic zombie character, and similar survival techniques are used, but this is where the similarities stop. The zombie in this novel is far more than a horrific flesh-eating abomination. It is also a victim of First Night. A victim of cruelty. And a victim of greed. These zombies are a representation of a failed society and a need for a better world. The zombie character in Rot & Ruin portrays zombies and their interactions with humans in such a unique and unexpected way, that it will change your¬¬ perspective of the zombie