Z for Zachariah by Robert C. O'Brien
"Z for Zachariah" is a novel by Robert C. O'Brien that unfolds through the journal entries of Ann Burden, a young woman surviving in a valley that remains untouched by the nuclear devastation affecting the outside world. Set a year after the catastrophe, Ann lives a solitary life, cultivating her own food and reflecting on her lost family. The plot escalates when a stranger, John Loomis, arrives, prompting Ann to navigate the complexities of companionship and trust in a radically transformed environment. As she learns about Loomis's past and his darker tendencies, including a violent act against his former partner, the story explores themes of moral ambiguity, survival, and the struggle for autonomy.
Ann's initial hope for a partnership quickly turns into a battle for safety when Loomis attempts to dominate her, forcing her to confront her own moral limits. The narrative raises questions about humanity's capacity for both kindness and cruelty, as Ann must make difficult decisions to protect herself. O'Brien's work is recognized for its depth, moving beyond a simple survival tale to examine the intricate dynamics of power, gender, and ethical dilemmas. This novel stands out in the young adult science fiction genre for its thought-provoking content and the complexity of its characters, encouraging readers to reflect on the nature of humanity in the face of catastrophe.
Subject Terms
Z for Zachariah by Robert C. O'Brien
First published: 1974
Subjects: Coming-of-age, gender roles, health and illness, and war
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Science fiction
Time of work: The near future
Recommended Ages: 13-18
Locale: A farm in a valley
Principal Characters:
Ann Burden , a sixteen-year-old farmer who has successfully maintained a community of one and who now confronts the problems that another person may poseJohn Loomis , a former graduate student in his early thirties obsessed with his own survival and that of humankind
Form and Content
Robert C. O’Brien’s last novel takes the form of journal entries written by Ann Burden a year after nuclear war has destroyed her family and much—perhaps all—of the outside world. The poisoned environment keeps Ann within her family’s valley, which enjoys “its own weather” and so has largely escaped the disaster. The story begins when Ann sees campfire smoke and realizes that a stranger is about to arrive; it ends months later as she abandons her homestead and embarks upon her own journey of discovery. Z for Zachariah, then, is at once a Robinson Crusoe story, a rewriting of the Eden myth, and an adventure focusing on generational and gender conflict.
The plot is deceptively simple. Ann, who had intended to become an English teacher, is a humanist who welcomes the idea of companionship. Although she is in some ways a dreamer, imagining marriage and children as one possible outcome of John Loomis’ arrival, she also has the strong practical streak that has enabled her to manage by herself, growing her own food and augmenting it with the stocks culled from the local store. Her understanding of humanity’s darker side prompts her to conceal herself from Loomis until she can ascertain what sort of person he is. As she watches him, he makes the mistake of swimming in Burden Creek, the one contaminated part of the valley, and contracts radiation sickness. Ann nurses him through his severe illness, gradually learning his history—more from his delirious ramblings than from his conscious statements.
Loomis is potentially both an asset and a threat. On the one hand, he is technologically sophisticated, able to advise Ann on returning her father’s tractor to use and to design an electric generator. He owes his own survival to his possession of “the last useful thing anybody ever made,” a “safe-suit” that repels radiation; with the safe-suit, Ann realizes, they may venture out into the world to bring back the books her hungry mind craves. On the other hand, he is ruthless: he has killed his laboratory partner in order to keep the suit. While Ann understands that the murder may have been justifiable as self-defense, Loomis’ inability to consider anyone’s viewpoint but his own leads him to attempt to rape Ann, apparently as the first step in repopulating Earth. Eluding him, she embarks on an insecure existence in the woods, but he refuses to allow a stalemate; he tries to capture her and keep her a prisoner in her family’s house. The situation requires Ann to implement a ruthlessness akin to his own, causing the death of her dog (the only living link to her family) because Loomis is using the animal to track her and finally stealing the safe-suit in order to search for another miraculously preserved enclave, a more stable community where there will be children to teach.
Critical Context
Although Robert C. O’Brien’s three novels for young readers are all suspicious of science and of power imbalances, they are startlingly different in conception. The Silver Crown (1968), which is set in the present but looks backward to the Dark Ages, meditates on technology’s dangerous and “magical” ability to force even good people to conform to its destructive demands; the more lighthearted Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (1971) uses talking animals to ask its audience to ponder whether society should properly be parasitic or symbiotic.
Z for Zachariah has the simplest plot of the three works but arguably demands the greatest amount of thought from readers because of its heightened recognition of moral ambiguity—as Ann recognizes, she and Loomis have much in common. The Silver Crown derives its excitement from the dramatic struggle between good and evil, suggesting that evil is artificial and eradicable. Z for Zachariah is both less melodramatic and less naïve. In its use of archetype and the connection that it makes between plot and underlying message, this novel is allied to such works of science fiction for young adults as Sylvia Louise Engdahl’s Enchantress from the Stars (1970), another artistically successful narrative that links the maturing process of an individual with that of a culture. Historically, juvenile science fiction has often been condemned as pulp, criticized for using cardboard characters and preferring action to thought. Novels such as O’Brien’s are reminders that these complaints are sometimes unjust.