Walking Corpses & Conscious Plants: Possibilist Ecologies in ...

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Bingham 66 flat base of the pyramid and are connected only to one another while the viewer can see each from its tip. Since the knees of the girls point away from one another and Hershel is positioned kneeling between them, they seem to fill the space triangularly. Looking for shapes among these figures is a way to think about how structure forms content. According to Elkins: A picture of the body is the site of a series of decisions (many of them made 'in advance' or unconsciously) regarding what is presentable: what will stand for the body in any given instance. And for that reason, both the final and initial question for any image of the body is: What is representable? (Pictures 277) Moore renders the pain of the loss of innocence in such a way that we cannot avoid an empathetic viewing. Layered in his depictions are the dual levels of physical and emotional suffering. On the level of the body, he shows a visceral aperture that calls anatomy to mind. On the level of the purely internal, he uses the frame of a black background and Hershel's body language to emphasize the viewer's connection to the pain and torment he undeniably feels. At this moment in time, only Hershel and the murderer know the extent of what has occurred. Like the other group members, Rick is unaware this terrible act has happened. This moment is an odd juncture in the text because the audience has been afforded more knowledge than the story's protagonist. As Ledbetter expresses, though, such moments can be pivotal points packed with meaning which possess the true essence of a work's import. He writes, “a moment in the story that seems to go against the flow of the text, may be the moment of ethical discovery” (2). Since readers are guided by Rick's presence through a majority of the narrative, his brief absence is significant. More precisely, the only opportunity for such a gruesome and horrible act to be perpetrated without interference was when the embodied representation of law disappeared from the
Bingham 67 immediate proximity of the group. As a result, we as readers must question the stability of that community and the strength of its ethical codes. The first step in approaching questions regarding the import of ethical codes which influence community structure is a documented challenge to their existence. Exposing the community and readers to an atrocious and unspeakable act, this sequence defies the ideal that the only desire people have in this apocalyptic possible world is to survive. Instead, this double murder shows that there are still individuals who will choose to enact their own sick fantasies of power by making innocent people suffer; or, in other words, that evil still exists. Since human existence is on the verge of extinction, this exploration of malevolence addresses issues of human nature. Before Rick's return, though, the stakes become increasingly elevated. More specifically, this examination becomes an inquiry into ethics. Since Rick finds out after the rest of the community, the immediate response of its other members becomes telling. There is a level of culpability attributable to Rick since, as a leader, he pushed Hershel to bring his family to the prison in the first place. However, because he is not present during this moment of crisis a great deal more attention is paid to the other characters who make up the group's ranks. The rippling effect of violence slowly moves out and touches the other members of the community. Maggie, Hershel's eldest and now sole surviving daughter, sees the scene next. The immorality of the prisoners is further typified as Axel spies on Lori and Carol in the shower. Shortly after Glenn, Arnold, and Andrea return to the courtyard to tell the others they believe Tyreese has perished in the gym. This is a huge blow for the group but is exponentially surpassed by the news of the girls' murder. Lori furiously accuses Dexter of the murder and locks him inside a cell (Figure 34-36). By not being
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Walking Corpses & Conscious Plants:
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Bingham 3 I owe an extreme debt of
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Bingham 5 Introduction My project e
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Bingham 7 personal growth through t
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Bingham 9 beliefs. Seeing a possibl
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Bingham 11 zombie exceeds death as
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Bingham 13 the validity of singular
Page 15 and 16: Bingham 15 Chapter I: The History o
Page 17 and 18: Bingham 17 Swamp Thing. According t
Page 19 and 20: Bingham 19 instructional profession
Page 21 and 22: Bingham 21 Another artist who worke
Page 23 and 24: Bingham 23 action into panels (Cohn
Page 25 and 26: Bingham 25 sponsorship. He designed
Page 27 and 28: Bingham 27 Charles Moulton. Marston
Page 29 and 30: Bingham 29 Frederick Wertham prompt
Page 31 and 32: Bingham 31 “graphic novel” was
Page 33 and 34: Bingham 33 what is or isn't a graph
Page 35 and 36: Bingham 35 Works Cited Benton, Mike
Page 37 and 38: Bingham 37 Chapter II: Transfusion
Page 39 and 40: Bingham 39 conflict or war. This ex
Page 41 and 42: Bingham 41 and dismember other bodi
Page 43 and 44: Bingham 43 bodies to pieces. (Cavar
Page 45 and 46: Bingham 45 thus creating an affecti
Page 47 and 48: Bingham 47 margins. Unlike the four
Page 49 and 50: Bingham 49 implicates the role of o
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Page 53 and 54: Bingham 53 Amy (Figure 10 & 11). Th
Page 55 and 56: Bingham 55 being who has done nothi
Page 57 and 58: Bingham 57 transgressions, this ima
Page 59 and 60: Bingham 59 Returning to the full pa
Page 61 and 62: Bingham 61 order” (200). The prem
Page 63 and 64: Bingham 63 possession, selling, ste
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Page 69 and 70: Bingham 69 experience, or the human
Page 71 and 72: Bingham 71 sentences Thomas to hang
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Page 75 and 76: Bingham 74 Works Cited Berger, Arth
Page 77 and 78: Bingham 76 APPENDIX A Fig. 1. Openi
Page 79 and 80: Bingham 78 Fig. 7. Fig. 8.
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Page 101 and 102: Bingham 101 Chapter III: Speaking o
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Page 107 and 108: Bingham 107 Wrightson only drew the
Page 109 and 110: Bingham 109 by the inexorable progr
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Page 113 and 114: Bingham 113 General Avery Carlton S
Page 115 and 116: Bingham 115 dismembered body which
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Bingham 117 sheltered from or not e
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Bingham 119 authority. This subtle,
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Bingham 121 the center of the page
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Bingham 123 affect. Apart from this
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Bingham 125 acts of fictional chara
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Bingham 127 resemblance, their comp
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Bingham 129 experience. The creator
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Bingham 131 justified. What follows
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Bingham 133 present to witness it t
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Bingham 135 If we read each charact
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Bingham 137 able to issue an urgent
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1 According to comics historian Rob
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Bingham 140 - Interview by David Ro
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