Weekly Blog Post: The Dead and The Gone

The Dead and The Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer

          The Dead and The Gone reflects on problems that aren't very realistic. One big problem is a apocalyptic situation and that problem is actually the root of all other problems like violence, starvation, and death. It makes us think "Wow. What would I do if these were to happen to me?". It makes you wonder about how life is a precious thing and any destruction would disrupt it. Alex, a teenage boy trapped in this situation is the main character and you get to see how his problems can't be solved and how he suffers from them. This apcocalyptic situation gets most of his family dead and forces him to think the unthinkable.

          Violence is a major problem and that involves killing poeple, even babies just to get your necesities like food and money. Violence is what drives Alex though and I always asked myself," Is it really worth it just to get food and money?" I often thought about other people's perspectives during reading the book because they suffered, too. But then again, Alex is only trying to survive with his sisters, Bri and Julie. He even has to go "body shopping" for valuable items like shoes and jewelry. Alex didn't even save a baby from being trampled from a angry mob and he cracked an old man's hand. It makes us think about justice in this world and how when you're out there trying to survive, you care about no one except yourself and your family.

          Violence then leads to starvation. Alex has to save up his food so he wouldn't run out and this made me think about how unfair that was to him. Some of us in the world gets more than 3 meals a day while some has to starve and savor food like Alex. It also made me feel bad and I definitely tried to resist during those parts. I felt guilty. Alex even starts to rely on school lunch while some of us don't even stop to think about school lunch. He relies on the government for food, too for a bag of food per person each week. We don't even have to do that.

          Violence, lastly leads to one more thing: death. Dozens of people die each day and "drop like flies". Most of the citizens have guns and they're not afraid to kill for food and money. That reminds me of savages because they're killing one another just for necesities. It again, makes me think about justice in the world. Is it fair that you get killed just so someone else can feed off of you? Of course not and that is because you have a life too that you need to protect. Not only violence leads to death, but so does the apocalyptic situation. There's volcanoes blowing up everywhere leaving ash in the air, tsunamis making cities flood and shrink and kill hundreds of people. Alex's parents were actually killed because of that. That's a really unthinkable situation, but still, this book makes you think about how your life would be in this type of setting.