39 pages • 1 hour read
William ForstchenOne Second After
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2009A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
The Edsel
When Jen’s Edsel is introduced, the car is viewed as a dinosaur from a bygone era. John makes good-natured fun of it: “‘Jennifer was expecting a ride in that monstrous car of yours.’ ‘The Edsel, my dear young man, was a generation ahead of its time.’ ‘And the biggest flop in the history of Ford Motors. My God, look at that grille; it’s ugly as sin’” (27).
Despite John’s initial derision, the car becomes his lifeline after the EMP strike. Because the Edsel is not run by a computer, it can still function, which allows the family a level of mobility that is not achieved by other residents until months later. John uses it to transport his father-in-law from the nursing home, and later, he and a group of town officials drive it to Asheville to receive vital news of disaster relief efforts. The car’s radio even inspires a plan to monitor outside broadcasts by setting up an old car radio in city hall.
When the Edsel was first manufactured in 1958, Ford promoted it as the car of the future. But it was a commercial failure, and production ended after only two years. If the Edsel had truly been the car of the future, the transportation crisis depicted in the novel would never have occurred.
Cigarettes
Cigarettes in One Second After are used in ways beyond simply satisfying a craving for nicotine. John calms his anxiety by smoking during the early days following the EMP blast. Ironically, the realization of future limited access to cigarettes actually increases his tension.
Several other characters express a desire for cigarettes to destress, even though some have quit, such as Mayor Kate and Makala. The dire circumstances causes them all to revert to their favorite addiction.
John also uses cigarettes as a gesture of camaraderie by offering them to people who help him deal with the EMP aftermath. He defuses a tense situation with an Asheville policeman by giving him a smoke: “Again, he thought of World War II. A GI with a pack of cigarettes was a wealthy man, and to share one with another man, or even a captured or wounded enemy, was a significant gesture” (129).
Cigarettes also become a form of currency, which John predicted in the immediate aftermath of the EMP strike. He advised the store owner to stash the cigarettes because they would be more valuable than money, and sure enough, once people run out of cash, they trade cigarettes during barter transactions with the store owner.
Ultimately, cigarettes represent a link to a time when life was still normal. At the end of One Second After, General Wright offers John a pack of cigarettes, and John declines, saying he is quitting for good. The decision is an indirect acknowledgment that nothing will ever be normal again.
The Value of Pets
Pets are a recurring motif in One Second After. Initially, they symbolize the stability of a happy home. John’s golden retrievers, Zach and Ginger, are romping with Jennifer right before all their lives change for the worse. Much like John’s feeling that cigarettes convey a sense of normalcy and calm, pets reassure their human companions that all is well.
The dire circumstances in Black Mountain force people to consider the unthinkable: killing their pets for food. When this suggestion is raised at a council meeting, it is roundly rejected; John is particularly appalled at the thought. For him, killing a pet is an indicator that people have slipped into barbarism: “‘That would take something out of us forever. It’s a line I don’t want to cross, a world I would rather not live in … No’” (237).
Nothing symbolizes the world’s degeneration more than the fate of John’s dogs. Zach is wounded during a failed robbery attempt. When John cannot bring himself to put the dog down, Jen shoots Zach and gives his body to their neighbors for food. Similarly, when Elizabeth’s pregnancy might be compromised due to lack of nourishment, John kills Ginger for meat. By this time, the dog is so emaciated that his action might be viewed as merciful.
In the new world order after the EMP blast, these four-footed family members are nothing more than carcasses to be consumed. Having crossed that line, the novel suggests that humanity has lost something far more valuable than its next meal.
