Z For Zachariah

Content Warning: The section of the guide includes discussion of sexual violence, death, and animal death.

Ann is the primary protagonist of Z for Zachariah. She is 15 years old when the novel starts and turns 16 partway through. Before the war, she lived in the valley with her parents; her brother, Joseph; and her cousin David. However, they left to search for survivors in nearby Ogdentown and never returned, leaving Ann to live on her own for over a year. Her ability to survive reflects her resilience and knowledge of the land, as she manages to create a life for herself in solitude: She cares for her family’s cows and chickens, plants a successful garden, and makes plans for her future in the valley by rationing supplies from the store and planning for when things run out.

One key component of Ann’s intelligence is her instincts. When Loomis comes to the valley, she chooses to hide in the cave to wait and see whether she trusts him. Even after she leaves the cave, she keeps its location a secret, which saves her life later in the novel. She also picks up on cues from Loomis that make her uncomfortable, instinctually realizing that she is not safe with him, even if she cannot fully articulate why she feels that way.

Despite her strong survival skills and intelligence, Ann’s strong desire for human connection and interaction makes her vulnerable, emphasizing the theme of The Tension Between Community and Autonomy. After spending a year alone, Ann is initially hesitant to interact with Loomis, but she ultimately cares for him, saves his life, and plans a future with him. She notes that she “thought [she] had become used to being alone, and to the idea that [she] would always be alone, but [she] was wrong,” acknowledging that, after Loomis arrives, “the thought of going back, the thought of the house and the valley being empty again […] seems so terrible [she] cannot bear it” (45). Then, after Loomis begins to control her life, she repeatedly forgives him for his actions in an effort to maintain their relationship. She learns through his dreams that he killed Edward, but she dismisses it as “self-defense” (126); then, when he grabs her hand aggressively on the porch, she rationalizes it, telling herself that “it [i]s not really so important” (160); even after Loomis sexually assaults her, she continues to help him, bring him supplies, and live with him, even as he continues to stalk and torment her. While this shows her immaturity and lack of understanding, it also reflects her desire to have human connection. She understands the larger picture—that she and Loomis are potentially the last two people alive—and is willing to sacrifice some of her own freedom and happiness to be with him.

Despite Ann’s compassion and her desire to hold on to her human connection with Loomis, she is a dynamic character who ultimately changes in the novel. First, she sets a trap for Faro, ultimately killing him after refusing to harm him earlier in the text. Then, she steals Loomis’s safe-suit and abandons him in the valley. Although she tells him that she will send someone back for him, she chooses to leave him to his death to hold on to her autonomy and her individual freedom. In this way, Ann has changed from a character who is willing to coexist with Loomis to one who does what she needs to do to survive—killing Faro and potentially leaving Loomis to die.

Another key component of Ann’s character is her love of literature and her desire to be a schoolteacher. She reads poetry and literature to Loomis and desires to go to Ogdentown to collect more novels to read. When Loomis burns her belongings, the most upsetting thing to her is his destruction of her collection of short stories. She writes that thoughts of her burning book “stir[] [her] harshest feelings toward Mr. Loomis,” as he “deliberately ruined the thing [she] prized most [and] stealing the safe-suit will be [her] revenge” (231). For Ann, even more important than her food, clothing, and other necessities is the destruction of one of the few pieces of literature she has in the valley. This idea reflects Ann’s humanity in direct opposition to Loomis; while Loomis emphasizes technology and science for their survival, she is concerned about literature and the arts, which make her life worth living. Ultimately, as she leaves the valley in the final pages of the novel, the thing that gives her hope is her dream about the children, as she convinces herself that there are schoolchildren waiting somewhere for her to teach them literature.

For these reasons, Ann is a metaphorical embodiment of harmony with nature. Her conflict with Loomis represents The Conflict Between Technology and Nature. As someone who knows the land of the valley, lives off of it, and emphasizes the importance of literature, she is close to nature and understands it in a way that Loomis does not. She acknowledges that she is not concerned with the science of why the valley is untouched by radiation, and while her lack of understanding of the gasoline pumps embarrasses her, these things are unimportant to her survival. She instead focuses on the garden, her animals, and fishing, vital skills with which Loomis—as a representative of science—is largely ignorant.