Walking Corpses & Conscious Plants: Possibilist Ecologies in ...

Bingham 72
unseen (Object 35). The blindness that pervades The Walking Dead is the view that
violence can be escaped. Life is inseparably linked to decomposition; and is only
temporarily delayed by reanimation in the text. From this perspective, we see that every
violent act performed seems to multiply into more of the same kind with unstoppable
momentum especially because it is tied to the fantasy of justice. In its most condensed
essence, this story is one of the effects of the misappropriation of power. Beginning with
a search for governmental or militarized intervention, the first error of the characters we
are introduced to through this narrative is their failure to become autonomous and their
desire to return to their previous lifestyles even in the face of insurmountable change. As
a result of this illusion, the autonomy of each of the members becomes compromised as
the narrative progresses. After this has occurred, it becomes apparent that improvement
and progress is not likely but rather its opposite, decay, is inevitable. If this is the case,
the vision of a sustainable society outside of the threat of violence is an impossibility
outside of what is natural. Thus the text demands a reconsideration of what can be
accomplished through existence as a result of this instability.