I Am Legend Analysis Essay

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Pages: 4

As the sunset falls, moonlight emits. The living dead arise and begin to lurk for the living in hope of a capture. The living withdrawal in solitude, anticipating morning in a vicious cycle of cat and mouse. In the horror fiction novel, I Am Legend by Richard Matheson, set in a post-apocalyptic world; a virus has infected the living into vampires. We see the protagonist Robert Neville the last of his species, fearsomely barricading himself in his home as he is ridiculed by the vampires. He longs for the apocalypse to someday end, in disbelieve that it will never end. The novel exemplifies themes such as survival, ethnocentrism, and the nature of belongingness that are relative to our modern world. Therefore, in the novel I Am Legend, the overall …show more content…
It is easy to target and assume someone accountable as the sole perpetrator of the infected disease. Instead of taking the proper time to acknowledge the circumstances of what is causing the disease, we infer and run for cover. We can see this example in modern America, with such pandemics as the Ebola virus. According to the article, “An Epidemic of Fear” by Stacy Lu, “The minute the Ebola threat was communicated, it hit all of the hot buttons: It can be fatal, it's invisible and hard to protect against, exposure is involuntary and it's not clear that the authorities are in control of the situation.” (Lu). In this case, because we fear the potential unknown implications of Ebola, we speculate to the situations that may occur to a certain demographic and to whom it can happen to. To emphasize, because a certain individual that has been infected with Ebola or a certain disease, there can be accusations amongst individuals who are in that group. Moreover, we will look to the individuals and give a malevolent identity within our culture. Furthermore, we will not bother to research or understand the opposing view, but instead project our own ideals of