The Walking Dalloway

*Please note that this post does contain spoilers!*

            Can one retain their character and moral values when faced with the loss of civilization? Are there some tragedies which are impossible cope with? These questions are explored in Mrs. Dalloway and in the AMC TV series, “The Walking Dead”. For those who have not yet seen “The Walking Dead”, I’ll give you a brief synopsis. The show is set in Atlanta, Georgia, and centers on a man named Rick Grimes who must try and survive in a world devastated by a zombie apocalypse. Rick, his family, and a group of other survivors, who he discovers and eventually leads, must work together to stay alive in a world where civilization has been all but destroyed and where one is never safe from a zombie attack. Both “The Walking Dead” and Mrs. Dalloway deal with the themes of keeping one’s morals and character in the face of the loss of civilization and with endurance.

            

          Both works concern themselves over whether a man’s character changes when they are put in a situation where the traditional security afforded to them by civilization is gone. Civilization’s duty is keep man safe, to protect him not only from the dangers of nature, but also from the dangers of other men. But what happens when civilization is not there to protect man? Does his character change at all? Does he lose his morality? The makers of “The Walking Dead” seem to answer these last two questions with a resounding yes. They portray nearly all of the characters as having to change and/or comprise their moral values in order to survive. The best of example of this idea is probably shown in Rick. Before the zombie outbreak, Rick is a police officer who has impeccable moral values. He is a man who, in the second season, spent a good couple weeks on an exhaustive and seemingly futile search for the young daughter of one of his group mates. Rick has no special attachment to this girl and wants to help solely because he thinks it is the right thing to do. Shane, Rick’s best friend, questions Rick on this plan and states that Rick is always doing moral things, but that is not good enough anymore, for he says, “Rick, you can’t always be the good guy and expect to live. Not anymore” (Season Two, episode 10).  However, as the series progresses, Rick becomes more and more cynical and cold. He ends up killing Shane to protect the group and in the most recent episode ignores the pleas of help by a young hitchhiker. Rick lives in a world fraught with danger, not only from zombies, but also from other human survivors. He lives in a world where society can no longer protect him. He does try to hold on to his moral compass for a while, eventually he finds doing so only hinders his, and his group’s chance of survival and so he discards it. Without the security of civilization, Rick is changed from a caring police officer to a cold and harsh survivalist. This same idea of the loss of security changing a person can be seen in a character from Mrs. Dalloway. Before Septimus goes to war, he is a Romantic who loves Shakespeare and a woman named Miss Isabel Pole. But when Septimus descends into the trenches, he realizes that he the security he was provided while in England is gone and that he must change himself to survive. He “develops manliness” and learns to repress his emotions (Woolf 53).  When faced with the death of his close friend Evans in the war, Septimus says he “congratulated himself on feeling very little…The War had taught him [to do so]” (Woolf 53). War, and the loss of security that goes with it, has changed Septimus, it transforms him from a Romantic lover into a cold hard manly man. Both Rick and Septimus’s characters change when they are put in extreme situations where the security that they are used to is gone.

           

(Pictured is Rick. Note, Sophia is the name of the little girl who Rick spent so long trying to find and Andrea is another member of Rick’s group who the group sort of ditched when they lost her.)

            Though this a bit of a side note, I think one could draw an even closer parallel between Rick and Septimus. Besides them both going through great character changes and growing cold to the needs of others, they also both go a bit crazy. Septimus sees hallucinations of Evans and Rick sees his dead wife, Laura. But anyway, back to the topic at hand.

       

            The theme of endurance is also present in both works. Mrs. Dalloway is littered with references to two phrases. The first is seen whenever Big Ben strikes. Whenever this occurs Woolf states, “leaden circles dissolve in air”. I took this to mean that time is heavy, oppressive, and inescapable. The term leaden makes time seem heavy and the idea of being trapped in an endless cycle/circle, which goes on and on and on, makes time seem inescapable. The characters in the novel fear death for they see that it, like time, is inevitable. The second phrase is a couple lines from the Shakespearean play, “Cymbeline”. The basic line goes “Fear no more the heat of the sun”. This statement appears often when a character is going through some sort of crisis. For instance, on page 112, Clarissa says that line as she is dealing with the news of Septimus’s suicide. As stated in class, this line is read often as statement of endurance. Personally, I agree with that assessment. The characters in the novel deal with a lot of pain. They are unsure of themselves and their live choices. They fear their own mortality. They see that time and the march toward death is inescapable. But despite their insecurity they continue to push onwards and these lines from “Cymbeline” are a symbol of their fortitude and endurance. The characters in “The Walking Dead” also show great endurance. They are faced on a daily basis with threats to their and their loved one’s lives. In spite of making seemingly impossible life choices they continue to push on. Why, Carl, Rick’s 12 year old son, must shoot his own mother in head to prevent her from turning into a zombie. But despite this awful and painful action, Carl does not to give up on life. He continues to trek onwards. He continues to survive. Although Woolf’s characters and the characters from “The Walking Dead” may not go through the same sort of troubles they both are able to push and endure them.

            

(Carl!)

          The show, “The Walking Dead” and the novel, Mrs. Dalloway each share the similar themes of endurance and a change in character when civilization and the security it brings is lost. These works do hold many lessons for us. One is that humans are naturally selfish and that emotion is a luxury afforded to us by civilization. When people are placed outside of civilization we cannot expect them to act altruistically, we must expect people to act as they are inside, as animals. Another lesson is that although we may face what seem to impossible challenges, we should not give up and surrender to them, but should try to push on through and endure them. Also, if you are ever unsure whether you can confront a certain challenge, just think of poor Carl and what he had to do to survive. Oy vey!