Dread Nation

“An Attendant’s job is simple: keep her charge from being killed by the dead, and her virtue from being compromised by potential suitors.”

Jane’s description of the Attendant’s role is telling in this passage. She implies that there are two dangers young women must be protected from: shamblers, and aggressive men. Jane is of the opinion that aggressive men like her father, the mayor, the sheriff, and the preacher are more dangerous than shamblers, and based on her comment here, she is not the only one who has this belief.

“Baltimore County is the safest in all the country. They say so in the newspaper, and you know the paper would never lie.”

This comment in Jane’s letter to her mother seems to be a tongue-in-cheek remark about the bias in the newspaper. Jane doesn’t seem to believe her own words, and less than two months after attending a lecture in which the mayor of Baltimore stressed the safety of the city, Baltimore falls to the shamblers. Jane’s comment here reminds the reader that grand, sweeping statements by politicians should be taken with a grain of salt.

“Just as the undead plague is born of God’s will, so also is the Negroes’ resistance—vaccinated Negro squads make sense from both a moral and a scientific standpoint.”

As a young Black woman in this new version of America, Jane is trained to become an Attendant. Although slavery has been officially ended by President Lincoln, the Black and Indigenous people of America are not truly released from a life of servitude. Instead, their role changes, and despite attempts to make the role sound honorable, the simple fact remains: Black and Indigenous children are expected to lay their lives on the line in defense of white life. Systemic racism is still at play in this fractured timeline, which shows that even a zombie apocalypse won’t stop the virus of racism.

“It’s a cruel, cruel world. And the people are the worst part.”

When chaos breaks out in the lecture hall, Jane watches as most of the attendees run out of the hall and make no attempt to help Professor Ghering, who is being eaten on the stage. Jane’s comment here will become a recurring theme throughout the novel. Shamblers are plenty dangerous, but it is people that Jane fears: not shamblers.

“This is an excellent opportunity to present yourself to the finest ladies in all of Maryland.”

Jane has no desire to go to Mayor Carr’s dinner party, and although Miss Preston assures her that this is a vital career move, Jane’s thoughts are elsewhere. She has no desire to be an Attendant; she just wants to return home to Rose Hill and be with her mother. Still, the reader is reminded that this could be a lucrative career opportunity for someone like Katherine, and Jane feels like she has no choice but to go.

“This is the house of a man used to being followed and obeyed, a man who has enough people between him and the shambler threat to never feel fear.”

When Jane arrives at Mayor Carr’s house, she is amazed by the grandeur of the estate. Mayor Carr lives in an ivory tower, a perfect escape from the shamblers, and he has never had to deal with the ugliness of a shambler-infested world like Jane and her classmates have. There is a significant disconnect between the mayor’s experiences and someone like Jane, and she knows that she will never see eye-to-eye with someone like him.

“Summerland is a city on a hill, a place where people can raise their families without worrying about any of this nasty shambler business.”

The mayor of Baltimore is a man who is determined to keep up appearances and salvage his reputation. He knows that Baltimore is a lost cause, and as a Survivalist, he knows that he can have absolute power if he places his time, energy, and resources into a community full of other Survivalists. Summerland isn’t just about securing safety: it is about a power-hungry man maintaining his control over others.

“These eastern cities are lost, girl. Finished. We can’t rebuild America on a foundation rotted by war and plague. We need to start over again. Summerland is that start.”

Mayor Carr is so committed to the idea of Summerland that he has given up all hope of saving the eastern cities. He claims that there is nothing that can be done, and as the reader will later learn, Gideon Carr felt the same way. Summerland was meant to symbolize hope but turned into an even bigger nightmare than Baltimore.

“She really did get the worst kind of deal. Here she is, following the rules for years, working toward nothing more than being some lady’s Attendant, and the powers that be decide she’s too pretty for such drudgery and ship her out west.”

All her life, Katherine has wanted to be free. She followed the rules, did her best in school, and learned how to charm others with her manners. Katherine is not driven by visions of grandeur or selfish ambitions: she simply wants to live her life by her own rules, and for all her hard work, she is unfairly punished because she is deemed “too pretty” to be an Attendant.

“People wanted to believe [the Survivalists] [...] They wanted everything to go back to the way it was before the war. Before the killing, the shamblers, the walls, all of it.”

In Dread Nation, the Egalitarians are the progressive party of equality, whereas the Survivalists are the regressive party of power and control. Before the war, the Survivalists would have been considered anti-abolitionists, but in the years following the shambler uprising, they have adopted a new strategy to win hearts and minds: the tactic of escapism and running away from the problems of the future by living in the past.

“I can take down a pack of shamblers like nobody’s business. I am clever and can work my way out of any bad situation. I know I am more than my skin color.”

Despite Sheriff Snyder’s best efforts to belittle Jane and “put her in her place” as a Black woman, Jane knows her self-worth. She knows that she is talented, strong, smart, and worthy of respect. Jane knows that she is Black, but she also knows that her identity as a Black woman goes beyond the color of her skin. Jane is proud of her status as a Black woman, and she won’t allow herself to be bullied by the likes of men like the sheriff.

“There’s nothing white folks hate more than realizing they accidentally treated a Negro like a person.”

Jane recalls a time when she and Jackson had to help a Black man who was caught posing as a white man, and the mob that formed almost killed the man. In a world where there is a sharp division between Black and white privilege, Jane suggests that white people become enraged at the thought of sharing their privilege and friendship with someone who successfully passed themself off as a white person.

“While the rest of the town looks ragged and tired, the lone house of worship is fresh and clean.”

Summerland is not a well-maintained town, but because the preacher is the puppet master of the settlement, the house of worship must be immaculate. This detail is ironic, because Christian doctrine encourages its followers to give to the poor and not hoard earthly treasures. However, the preacher is clearly hoarding supplies to keep the appearance of the church pristine, even as the rest of the town goes without food or sufficient shelter.

“Sheriff lost his wife to the plague going on three years ago, right before the wall was completed.”

The sheriff was previously married, and although the details of his wife’s death are clouded in mystery, Ireland hints that the sheriff may have had something to do with it. If nothing else, this detail shows that the sheriff may have been traumatized by the loss of his wife, which is why he is so particular about dealing with the undead in his own way. According to the Duchess, the sheriff’s authority is never to be questioned, especially when it comes to the undead.

“God can be merciful and kind, as long as you follow His laws.”

The preacher’s statement is a perfect example of the role of obedience in organized religion. The preacher claims that God requires complete obedience, and when people step out of line, they are punished. However, he states that if a person follows God’s laws (or, more accurately, man’s interpretation of his laws), God might spare them from demise.

“They think God sent his son to earth to die for our sins because, down past the roots, we are all sprung from the same seed. But that isn’t so!”

Christian abolitionists argued that enslaved people were also made in the image of God, and that it was wrong to mistreat someone who is made in God’s image. However, the preacher ascribes to the belief that non-white people are not valued by God in the same way that white people are. This is a political interpretation of a Biblical text, and the preacher takes verses out of context at his leisure to justify the oppression of people of color.

“That man, that false prophet, might just be the most dangerous man in town.”

As Jane listens to the preacher’s sermon, she realizes that several of the white drovers are nodding along to what he is saying. Jane is horrified to realize that the preacher is successfully convincing the white people of Summerland that they have a divine right to be served by their Black counterparts. She knows that someone like the preacher is dangerous because he possesses the gift of persuasion and dangerous ideas about how to treat his fellow man.

“There is no such thing as the good life in Summerland for Negroes. The only thing here for us is death. Whatever form that might take.”

Not long after her arrival in Summerland, Jane concludes that Summerland will never be safe for her. She watches as two Black girls find themselves dead after one of them is bitten by shamblers, and the other is shot by mistake by the sheriff’s men. With insufficient weapons, little food, and a constant threat of senseless death, Jane knows that she can’t stay in Summerland if she wants to survive.

“A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

Gideon quotes the famous words of Abraham Lincoln, which also came from a passage in the Bible. He understands that Summerland—and America in general—is doomed unless its people can put aside their differences and work together. Gideon dreamed of a town where skin color didn’t matter, and everyone could work together for the greater good. Lincoln’s words applied to both the Civil War and the shambler nightmare, but until the residents of Summerland get on board, nothing will change.

“And every now and then you just get a bad dog [...] sometimes you’ve just got to put a bad dog down.”

Jane is compared to an animal throughout the novel. Professor Ghering calls Black people livestock, and Jane is made to feel like a farm animal on her first day patrolling the wall of Summerland. And when she is caught out after curfew, she is called a “bad dog” that must be destroyed. The intent is clear: the whipping was meant to kill Jane, and it would have if Katherine hadn’t stepped in.

“I’ve known Katherine for a long time, and the last thing she wants to do is spend another moment in the sheriff’s presence. But this is the role that I’ve asked her to play, and Katherine is not one to back down from what’s required of her. She’s a much better person than I am.”

At the beginning of the novel, Jane has no love for Katherine, whom she considers a busybody and a know-it-all. However, Jane sees a different side of Katherine in Summerland. She realizes that Katherine is willing to do whatever is asked of her, and she has a strong sense of duty and self-sacrifice.

“He startles as he looks at me, adjusting his spectacles before doffing his hat in a lovely display of manners that I’ve seen men lavish on white ladies, but I sure ain’t used to.”

Jane is charmed by Gideon, because in addition to being deeply intelligent and kind, Gideon treats Jane with respect. When he comes to Katherine’s house and Jane answers the door, he does the gentlemanly thing of removing his hat out of respect for her. Jane has never been treated like this by a man, and certainly not by a white man, so she is touched by this small gesture of kindness.

“Certain death can make a man act in unusual ways, forgetting right and wrong.”

Jane offers this warning to Katherine when she is about to leave to fight the shamblers at the wall. The saying, of course, applies to the story. When people are facing danger, they may act out of character or do crazy or dangerous things. Jane’s words are a warning to trust no one, even those who might be considered friends, when shamblers come to town.