Mediocrity vs. Mediocracy in Zone One Cedric Dent, Jr. College

Colson Whitehead has written an inordinately compelling post-apocalyptic science fiction novel centering around the zombie archetype. In Zone One, he deftly uses the zombie model to create a mediocracy—a populace of dependent thinkers who accept, without question, a system of existence that is not favorable to them. In so doing, Whitehead turns the undead into symbolism to criticize the classism of Capitalism and the mindsets that contribute to failure to measure up to potential. Whitehead writes Mark Spitz as a character to embody the irony of using mediocrity as a haven from the burden of pursuing success to illustrate that to be mediocre is to affirm the mediocracy; moreover, the mediocracy inherently stifles ambition and hinders success, and therein lies the crux of Whitehead’s irony and the cornerstone of his criticism of Capitalist society.

The text ultimately defines success as a more-or-less fruitless burden imposed upon the multitude. It is starkly reminiscent of the Marxist concept of false consciousness, which is the sociological result of Capitalism culturally conditioning the minds of the people to accept a system that disadvantages them. Accepting this system without questioning it and without protest is “to...