Ashfall Journal #1

          The story of Ashfall covers many themes to try and give the book a more realistic feel to it. One of the most prominent themes however, is also the most emotional and scary to think about. It is the idea that in the most perilous situations, we will lose our humanity. The main character, Alex, even realizes by the end of the book that his view on humanity has completely changed since the disaster began. “For the first time ever, I felt ashamed of my species. The volcano had taken our homes, our food, our automobiles, and our airplanes, but it hadn’t taken our humanity. No, we’d given that up on our own.”

In a post-apocalyptic world where all the everyday privileges we have now are gone, what can people do to survive? At first, Alex was not worried about survival when the volcano went off, he was only concerned with finding his family and making sure they were alright. He still thought slightly ahead and packed himself basic survival gear for the journey, but he was severely underequipped for what lie ahead. He would not have to just face the environment, but also the other people trying to survive along with him. After the eruption, people begin to starve which changes most of them into savages that will hunt, steal, and kill for what they need. Alex does find several friendly people on his journey that offer him food and protection but most people realize that they need every bit of supplies they can get and they will not share them with strangers.

At one point in the book, Alex comes across a man that calls himself Target. He seems friendly at first but that quickly changes when Alex decides not to stay with him and Target retaliates by attacking him with a hand axe. After the encounter with target, Alex is seriously wounded and near death, but gets taken in by an old woman, Mrs. Edmunds, and her daughter, Darla. However, his choice to defy Target comes back to haunt him. He invades the house and ends up killing Mrs. Edmunds to gather her supplies and get revenge on Alex. He later gets knocked out and burned to death but it serves as a prime example of how desperate people have gotten just for a few scraps.

In the end it simply comes down to your own opinion on the topic. How do you draw a line between savagery and survival? What is the best way to deal with someone that needs help? Would you give them food and shelter knowing that you will most likely need it all for yourself? How do you tell the difference between someone that will help you or someone that will kill you? Should you take the risk that they will not try to betray and kill you whenever you let your guard down? Is it any better to leave them on their own to die of hunger or cold rather than just killing them on the spot?