Rot And Ruin By Jonathan Maberry: Character Analysis

1. Jonathan Maberry, the author of award-winning book Rot and Ruin, writes this story in a very eye-captivating way including interesting character development and plot through the theme of “Sometimes you have to be the change you want to see”. The story starts off with the protagonist, Benny, hating his brother, Tom, for his cowardly appearance in his first memory of his parents and the zombie-infested, ruin, outside of the encumbrance of the fence. As the story progresses Benny must find a job or he will lose the slim food rations he has. When the cutoff date ever so slowly approaches Benny eventually accepts that he needs to work with his brother, killing zombies upon special request. Benny doesn’t realize it yet but it’s more than just …show more content…
My theme statement for the book Rot and Ruin, by Jonathan Maberry, is sometimes you have to be the change you want to see in the world. Benny realizes that no one else would leave the safety of their guarded town to look for Nix so he takes it in his own hands to go with Tom to save her from Charlie and his group of friends who will evidently put her in …show more content…
One internal conflict that occurred in Rot and Ruin is when Benny thinks of his brother, Tom, as a coward for his memory of Tom fleeing the scene when he could have helped save mom in his eyes. Although this isn’t fully true because later on in the story Benny and Tom have a deep conversation about what really happened in the memory. It was mom that told tom to run for she knew that she would become a zom because she saw what her husband had become. This effects the plot by creating character development in Benny. He realizes that he was wrong and he apologizes for all the years Tom had to deal with the fact that his only family thought of him as a coward. ‘“You let them die!” Benny said in a savage whisper.” and ‘“Yeah, ‘cause you’re a freaking coward is why!”’ are examples of when Benny thought of Tom as a coward. “We’ll see.” Tom paused. “You don’t think too much of me, do you?” Before Benny could answer, Tom pressed on. “Little brother, you may never have said it in so many words, but I know that you think I’m a coward. You think I ran away and left Mom to die back on First Night.” “I did run, Benny. I ran like hell. I left Mom and I took you and I ran. Is that what you want me to say? Does it help that I said it?” “On First Night,” Benny began, “all those years ago. I remember Mom with red sleeves. I remember her screaming. I remember you taking me and running. I looked back and saw Dad behind her.” “Yes,” said Tom. “All of that happened.” “The red sleeves … she’d