53 pages • 1 hour read
T. J. NewmanA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Worst Case Scenario features several characters who find themselves thrown into crisis, and the author uses this premise to examine various ways in which people respond to high-stakes situations. The story therefore conveys multiple definitions of heroism and leadership. Some of these characters—like Joss and Ethan—are trained to handle nuclear accidents and emergencies, while others—like Steve and Dani—are firefighters who deal with more mundane emergencies on a daily basis. Still others are untrained civilians who must find ways to cope however they can, and, notably, the author creates heroes in all three categories as the crisis unfolds, implying that true heroism is not limited to self-sacrifice; instead, it is a multifaceted attribute that manifests in many different ways.
At the plant, Joss and Ethan are thrown into intense leadership roles during the crisis due to their jobs and their training. However, they differ greatly in their approach, and Newman uses their conflict to explore the ethical dilemma of whether to sacrifice the safety of a few for the good of the many. This conflict comes to the fore when they have to decide whether to vent the gas off the spent fuel pool, and it arises yet again when they are forced to send someone into the radioactive water to manually turn on the pump. In both instances, Joss insists that risking key personnel to avert larger disasters is the obvious answer, but for Ethan, the situation is much more nuanced. He is keenly aware that Joss’s choices will immediately endanger the lives of those in Waketa. It is significant that Joss changes her stance just before she sacrifices her own life, as she acknowledges that there is “value” in “just living a life, and that d[oes]n’t make you a coward or selfish” (206). In her eyes, heroism is always defined as saving the many, no matter what is sacrificed in the process, but Ethan ultimately shows her that everyone’s life holds value. Her internal change conveys the complexity of heroism in all its forms.
Similarly, the conflict between Dani and Chief Loftus draws attention to the multifaceted nature of heroism and leadership. When Chief Loftus orders Dani and her colleagues to report to the plant, she ignores him and opts instead to try to save Connor, thereby focusing on the life of one person despite the broader crisis in progress. As President Dawson later states, Dani, like Ethan, ascribes to the idea that “[w]hoever saves a single life is considered by scripture to have saved the whole world” (303). While Chief Loftus, Steve, and the other firefighters sacrifice their lives dealing with the radioactive hazards at the plant, Dani is willing to sacrifice her life to rescue Connor at any cost. While Chief Loftus’s version of making “tough choices” means abandoning individuals for the greater good, Dani and the other firefighters at the bridge decide that “[i]f a single life isn’t enough to qualify, this isn’t the job [they] signed up for” (99). Their reason for risking themselves in this job is to help individuals like Connor. Ultimately, the conflicting views of the chief and his subordinates both exemplify different versions of heroism, and the author pointedly outlines the merits of both approaches.
In addition to those trained to handle crises, a range of everyday people also portray leadership and bravery. Knowing that the town is unaware of the evacuation notice, Marion risks his life by going to the power plant and searching for a CB radio to warn as many people as he can, thereby helping the entire community remain safe. Similarly, instead of evacuating, Reverend Michaels and dozens of other people come together to establish a safe place, find an immediate form of evacuation, and deal with the crises unfolding across the town. While these people are not “leaders” the national level, they nonetheless work to make a difference in their immediate area.
Ultimately, the medal ceremony that takes place one year after the crisis exemplifies the philosophical ideas that dominate the novel, especially when President Dawson speaks to the crowd, commending the town of Waketa for “set[ting] aside those differences and work[ing] together to save one another, a small community, and ultimately the world” (303). This statement reaffirms the novel’s message about heroism and leadership and celebrates the varying ways in which individuals can help in times of crisis.
Waketa, a small town in Minnesota, is largely ignored by the national government due to its size, an issue that has affected Joss for most of her career. She acknowledges that the government has little interest in such a small community, and this dismissive attitude becomes clear as the town struggles to obtain outside help. Notably, there is no national response that helps the town evacuate, and supplies are slow in getting to the community. The plant is even forced to send an untrained Steve to attempt an underwater welding job to fix the central problem. These failings of the government convey the importance of self-reliance for the town of Waketa, and the residents must ultimately rely on each other to survive the crisis.
Within this context, the United Grace Church becomes an important center for community support. When the church is first introduced in the moments before the plane crash, Newman describes it as “not only a community center, but the center of community for Waketa” (13). Most of the citizens attend church, and Reverend Michaels therefore becomes a representative of community support as he preaches about the importance of being a “family” and supporting one another. When tragedy strikes the community, this sentiment grows even more relevant as the church becomes the center of operations for the civilians to handle their own problems. While the fire department and emergency response teams are addressing the larger crisis at the plant, the townspeople band together to help one another, distributing food and medicine and finding ways to evacuate as many people as possible. Their joined efforts emphasize the importance of a strong community in times of crisis.
Another component of the power of community can be seen in Steve’s internal transformation. However, after he is exposed to radiation, he changes, urging Matt to rely on the community. Thus, the author combines individual experiences with broader efforts to emphasize the important role that community support plays in healing.
This particular theme plays out in the internal evolution that Steve experiences during the crisis. Before the start of the novel, Steve and his son, Matt, underwent trauma when Matt’s mother, Claire, died of cancer. However, Steve spent the next 16 months ignoring his trauma, and this, in turn, has prevented him from helping his son heal. When he is first introduced, he avoids his fellow community members and takes no comfort in others’ attempts to ask after his family’s well-being in the wake of his wife’s death. By choosing to ignore his own pain, he damages his relationship with Matt and worsens his own suffering as well.
As the crisis at the plant begins, Steve privately acknowledges that he has been avoiding the trauma of his wife’s death and reflects on his tendency to “compartmentalize” his various thoughts and issues. He notes that he would deliberately “[make] himself busy, replacing his grief and worry with some task, some protocol, some procedure” (101). By providing this glimpse of the man’s anguished reflections, Newman indicates that Steve’s tendency to avoid his trauma is deeply unhealthy; his ongoing failure to address the impact of his wife’s death therefore stands as his most prominent character flaw. Even other community members notice the damaging effects of this dynamic, as is implied when Carla notes that “the alchemy of [Steve and Matt’s] grief and Matt’s preteen angst ha[ve] the boy acting out rebelliously” (86-87). Steve’s failure to address his grief becomes the impetus for the novel’s more personalized approach to the effects of the unfolding crisis.
Ultimately, however, this subplot carries a distinct note of redemption despite the tragedies involved. Throughout the novel, however, Steve and Matt change significantly as they reconnect and learn to address their grief. Their relationship is mended once Steve acknowledges his mistakes and seeks to make amends. As he lies in the hospital bed, struggling to process the grim reality of his radiation poisoning, he laments the time that he wasted in silence and avoidance during the months of his wife’s illness and reflects, “If he truly had understood […] that time runs out—he would have done it all so differently” (214). With Clara, he allowed time to “run out” and focused on her diagnosis rather than spending time with her. Then, in the months following her death, he ignored his feelings and threw himself into work, failing to spend time with Matt. Although his death ultimately prevents him from fully making amends with Matt, his transformed outlook emphasizes the importance of dealing with trauma, and he passes this lesson on to his son as well.
At the novel’s conclusion, Matt’s act of honoring his father by going fishing in their favorite spot indicates that he, unlike Steve, has managed to process and move past his grief and build a life without his father. Significantly, his community provides him with the support he needs to accomplish this. First, Levon fixes Matt’s fishing pole, and whenever Matt feels overwhelmed by grief and loss, he uses the pastime of fishing to fully contemplate and process his emotions. Instead of avoiding his grief or “compartmentalizing,” he “let[s] it all fill him” (311), and this scene indicates that he has found a healthy way to handle his grief and find a form of healing.