Block Off and Simplify

We have seen how crossing out helps us get at what is and isn’t important in writing. It was time consuming though and the whole point was to figure out what the author was trying to say. We did this ironically by focusing on what wasn’t important. In blocking we flip this idea around and instead pick out what is important.

Why Didn’t We Start Here?

Why didn’t we just start by looking for the important stuff? It is usually a bit harder to find what is important rather than what isn’t. So it isn’t the best place to start. Think of it this way, in crossing out we were trying to find hay in a haystack. It’s pretty easy the stuff is everywhere. In blocking, we will be looking for the needle in the haystack instead and it is usually harder to do. After all, if we could already determine what was important we wouldn’t have any issues understanding what the authors are trying to tell us. Consequently, you probably wouldn’t be reading this.

Hopefully, crossing out has helped you form a solid idea of what isn’t important so when you read certain parts of a sentence you don’t get caught up in the details. Also, I hope that by eliminating the fluff you are also getting a better sense of what is and isn’t important. After all, the whole point of crossing out was to build our reading comprehension skills.

How To Block

In blocking we will be focusing on what is important so we should have a systematic way of understanding this. Let’s look at a simple sentence to understand what to look out for as we read.

The dog ran across the field chasing a rabbit.

In this straightforward sentence, we are describing something. That something is a dog and they are the main character in our sentence.

What did the dog do? They ran.
Where? Across a field.
Why? To chase a rabbit.

While it seems redundant to ask so many questions about such a simple sentence it is important to understand that most complicated sentences follow the same script. They have a main character, usually an idea rather than a physical object or entity, that is described, but not always. Therefore we can ask the same simple questions (how, where, why, what, etc. ) about ideas in our complicated sentences too.

Worked Example: Back to Zombies

Let’s look at the same example we used when learning how to cross out to see how we can block. First, I will begin by defining the main character in each sentence. Then I will focus on asking and answering questions about this character. I typically focus on what, why, and how questions first since they get at the heart of the argument. Where and who questions tend to focus on details. It doesn’t mean they aren’t worth asking just secondary in importance.

Now onto the passage…

“The modern incarnation of the zombie, as seen strewn across pop culture horror novels and films in ever-increasing numbers, is easily recognized and radically different from its historical roots; any member of our modern Western culture can spot the gray, often rotting flesh, the black eyes, the dishevelled appearance, the shuffling gait, the wretched moaning, and, of course, the bloody mouths flecked with fresh flesh and detritus.”

Main Character: Modern zombie
What is the modern zombie? Easily recognized, different from its roots
Where is the modern zombie? Strewn across pop culture horror novels and films

I could run through all of the question words and try and answer each. In most cases you won’t be able to. Instead always ask a what, why, or how question and if you can answer one those move on.

Let’s look at the next sentence to understand how follow up questions can help us gain better understanding as well.

However, the zombie goes beyond cheap thrills; zombies, as well as other variations of horror monsters, represent a fear that pervades society as a whole, a collective nervousness of destruction at the hands of a seemingly invulnerable foe.

Main Character: Zombie
What is the zombie? A representation of fear

We could continue to ask questions about the zombie, however, a new idea was introduced. Here it is fear. Due to this, we should look into this idea more and ask follow-up questions about fear. We jump back to what, why, and how questions for this as shown below.

Fear about what? Destruction

Convert to Highlights (For Now…)

Why Are We Going to These Lengths?

It is tedious to block and simplify to understand a couple of sentences so why bother doing it? We are doing this for a couple of reasons. First to improve our comprehension skills so we can gain better insight into how sentences are constructed. The goal is to make reading comprehension effortless we do this by breaking it down into the small necessary steps you have to take and practicing them until they are easy.

Once these steps are easy we can put them all together to read without having to think about it. It is a bit like learning how to ride a bike. We need to learn how to balance, how to pedal, how to change gears, how to brake, etc. It is a ton at once, but it can be made much easier by breaking it out into little manageable pieces, which is why we have training wheels. Once we learn though we can jump on our bike and ride without thinking about it.

Second, we can use this technique on the really challenging sentences that we might find on our exams. Instead of rereading the same sentence multiple times we can shift our thought process and break the sentence down into parts to understand it. Often this is faster and more effective than rereading the same sentence multiple times.

More Practice: Finishing Up with Zombies

Go ahead and try blocking with the rest of the article that we looked at last time. This is the second half so it picks up where the last lesson left off.

The zombie as we know it today, by its very nature, is a mindless creature which was once a human being, a sentient individual with a name and free will, but has been warped to become a ravenous consumer without thought or emotion. It meanders through city streets, around small towns, and along highways with no thought or desire but to consume anything and everything it can—namely, human flesh.

[bg_collapse view=”link” color=”#5f81e4″ expand_text=”Blocked and Simplified” collapse_text=”Hide” ]The zombie as we know it today, by its very nature, is a mindless creature which was once a human being, a sentient individual with a name and free will, but has been warped to become a ravenous consumer without thought or emotion.

Main Character: Zombie
What is the zombie? a mindless creature, once human, has been turned into a consumer

It meanders through city streets, around small towns, and along highways with no thought or desire but to consume anything and everything it can—namely, human flesh.

Main Character: Zombie (It refers to zombies)
What is the zombie? thoughtless, only wants to consume

Simplification: Zombie is a mindless creature was once a human has been turned into a consumer. The zombie is thoughtless and only wants to consume.
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If one listens to the cries of anti-capitalist dissenters, an eerie similarity between zombies and members of capitalist economies appears, at least in terms of behavior; the masses go out from their homes and flock to shopping centers and department stores, willingly giving away the fruits of their labour in exchange for luxury items, and often really don’t know why.

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If one listens to the cries of anti-capitalist dissenters, an eerie similarity between zombies and members of capitalist economies appears, at least in terms of behavior; the masses go out from their homes and flock to shopping centers and department stores, willingly giving away the fruits of their labour in exchange for luxury items, and often really don’t know why.

Main Character: Cries of anti-capitalist dissenters
What are the cries of anti-capitalist dissenters? Zombie and capitalist have the same behavior

Simplification: Cries of anti-capitalist dissenters state that zombies and capitalists have the same behavior.
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A defining feature of the zombie is the loss of the individual’s sentience once transformed into the undead, just as a loss of sentience occurs in the individual within a consumer capitalist culture, at the hands of mass marketing and advertising. On the subject of the loss of free will, author Chuck Palahniuk wittily writes: “Experts in ancient Greek culture say that people back then didn’t see their thoughts as belonging to them. When ancient Greeks had a thought, it occurred to them as a god or goddess giving an order… Now people hear a commercial for sour cream potato chips and rush out to buy, but now they call this free will. At least the ancient Greeks were being honest.”4

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A defining feature of the zombie is the loss of the individual’s sentience once transformed into the undead, just as a loss of sentience occurs in the individual within a consumer capitalist culture, at the hands of mass marketing and advertising.

Main Character: Feature of the zombie
What is the feature of the zombie? Loss of sentience

This sentence is interesting because it isn’t purely descriptive as we have seen above. It is also comparative and it is important to pick up on these comparisons and represent them in your highlights and simplifications. We can pick up on these comparisons by looking out for certain words in this case just as. We will dive into this idea in the next topic in more detail when we look at the function of different types of words.

What is the comparison here? Zombie = capitalist in regards to the loss of sentience

On the subject of the loss of free will, author Chuck Palahniuk wittily writes: “Experts in ancient Greek culture say that people back then didn’t see their thoughts as belonging to them. When ancient Greeks had a thought, it occurred to them as a god or goddess giving an order… Now people hear a commercial for sour cream potato chips and rush out to buy, but now they call this free will. At least the ancient Greeks were being honest.”4

Main Character: Loss of free will
What about the loss of free will? we now call it free will

Simplifcation: The main feature of the zombie is the loss of sentience this is also lost in capitalists. Loss of free will (sentience) we now call free will.
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Here Palahniuk’s anti-capitalist sentiments can be translated to the parallel between zombies and consumers, as both experiences a loss of sentience, and of the individual. The zombie is a monster of majority, unlike its vampiric and lupine counterparts, as those in our society who are given to the consumer instinct are a majority and the few individuals who criticize capitalism from within it are persecuted and defamed in the way that zombies will swarm and attack an uninfected human. In addition, the zombie is a mechanism of annihilation; while vampires are a small minority living in the underground of a human world, feeding to survive, the zombie horde exists only for the purpose of consuming or converting all humans until the species is extinct and the paradigm shifts to a world inhabited only by zombies.

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Here Palahniuk’s anti-capitalist sentiments can be translated to the parallel between zombies and consumers, as both experiences a loss of sentience, and of the individual.

Main Character: Palahniuk’s anti-capitalist sentiments
What are the sentiments? Translated to loss of sentience and represent parallel between zombies and consumers

The zombie is a monster of majority, unlike its vampiric and lupine counterparts, as those in our society who are given to the consumer instinct are a majority and the few individuals who criticize capitalism from within it are persecuted and defamed in the way that zombies will swarm and attack an uninfected human.

Main Character: Zombie
What is the zombie? Monster of majority
Comparison: Werewolves and vampires
What is the comparison? Zombie and vampires are different Zombie = Capitalist consumer and vampire = Anti-capitalist

In addition, the zombie is a mechanism of annihilation; while vampires are a small minority living in the underground of a human world, feeding to survive, the zombie horde exists only for the purpose of consuming or converting all humans until the species is extinct and the paradigm shifts to a world inhabited only by zombies.

Main Character: Zombie
What is the zombie? Mechanism of annihilation
Comparison: Vampires
What is the comparison? Zombie and vampires are different Zombie =majority, consumer and vampire = Minority, feed to survive

Simplification: Palahniuk’s anti-capitalist sentiments are translated to a loss of sentience and represent a parallel between zombies and consumers. Zombies (consumers) are a monster of majority werewolves and vampires are not. Instead, vampires are anti-capitalist and the minority who feed to survive.
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This is similar to the cries of the left-wing, who accuse the right—the upholders of laissez-faire capitalism and unwavering nationalism—of demanding conformity of all to their belief systems and ways of living (if you don’t like America, well you can just get out). However, Dendle postulates that while zombie apocalypse films and novels capitalize on the anxiety of the masses, the underlying purpose of zombie culture is not to display the end of the world but to illustrate how the world may be profoundly changed for the better by means of the old world’s destruction. Dendle states: “Post-apocalyptic zombie worlds are fantasies of liberation: the intrepid pioneers of a new world trek through the shattered remnants of the old, trudging through the shells of buildings and the husks of people.”1

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This is similar to the cries of the left-wing, who accuse the right—the upholders of laissez-faire capitalism and unwavering nationalism—of demanding conformity of all to their belief systems and ways of living (if you don’t like America, well you can just get out).

Main Character: Cries of the left wing
What are there cries? Accuse the right
Accuse the right of what? Demanding conformity

However, Dendle postulates that while zombie apocalypse films and novels capitalize on the anxiety of the masses, the underlying purpose of zombie culture is not to display the end of the world but to illustrate how the world may be profoundly changed for the better by means of the old world’s destruction.

Main Character: Dendle’s idea (postulate)
What is Dendle’s idea? Zombie apocalypse capitalizes on the aniexty of the masses, illustrate how the world can change for the better

Dendle states: “Post-apocalyptic zombie worlds are fantasies of liberation: the intrepid pioneers of a new world trek through the shattered remnants of the old, trudging through the shells of buildings and the husks of people.”1

Main Character: Post-apocalyptic worlds
What are post-apocalyptic worlds? Fantasies of liberation

Simplfication: Cries of the left wing accuse the right wing of demanding conformity. Dendle think the zombie apocalypse capitlizes on anxiety and show how the world can change for the better. Post-apocalytic worlds are fantasies of liberation.
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In World War Z, the sundering of the zeitgeist in the United States shatters the pre-existing capitalistic and highly individualized philosophy of the masses and opens up the populace, through their vulnerability, to survival only through communal life and cooperation. However, even Brooks’ profound statements regarding cooperation are contradicted within his novel, in the example of socialist Cuba becoming a booming post-war capitalist force. One can infer from the critiques of both capitalism and communism that Brooks supports neither in his writing, adding another layer to the zombie-capitalist.

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In World War Z, the sundering of the zeitgeist in the United States shatters the pre-existing capitalistic and highly individualized philosophy of the masses and opens up the populace, through their vulnerability, to survival only through communal life and cooperation.

Main Character: Sundering of the zeitgeist
What happened in this sundering? Shattered capitalistic and individualized ways of being

However, even Brooks’ profound statements regarding cooperation are contradicted within his novel, in the example of socialist Cuba becoming a booming post-war capitalist force.

Main Character: Brooks’ statement
What is Brooks’ statement? Regards cooperation
What do they say about cooperation? Contradicted

One can infer from the critiques of both capitalism and communism that Brooks supports neither in his writing, adding another layer to the zombie-capitalist.

Main Character: Inference
What is the inference? Brooks supports neither (refers to capitalism and communism)

Simplification: Sundering of the Zetigiest shattered capitalism and individualism. Brooks’ statement regarding cooperation is contradicted. Instead, we can infer that Brooks supports neither capitalism nor communism.
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I believe that the impact of Brooks’ novel regarding our economic anxiety can be summarized by this statement of a Japanese character late in the novel: “His generation wanted to rule the world, and mine was content to let the world, and by the world I mean [the United States], rule us. There has to be a better way, a middle path where we take responsibility…”2 This is a powerful line, as it transforms the novel from a simple metaphor for capitalism to a statement that the world must take a path between capitalism and communism in order to survive and prosper, and that this path is now available as the world has an opportunity to rebuild. This is the ultimate function of the zombie, beyond cheap thrills of a horror film and beyond a criticism of the right-wing and consumer capitalism; the zombie functions to clean the slate and enable the world to rebuild anew.

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I believe that the impact of Brooks’ novel regarding our economic anxiety can be summarized by this statement of a Japanese character late in the novel: “His generation wanted to rule the world, and mine was content to let the world, and by the world I mean [the United States], rule us. There has to be a better way, a middle path where we take responsibility…”2

This is a powerful line, as it transforms the novel from a simple metaphor for capitalism to a statement that the world must take a path between capitalism and communism in order to survive and prosper, and that this path is now available as the world has an opportunity to rebuild.

This is the ultimate function of the zombie, beyond cheap thrills of a horror film and beyond a criticism of the right-wing and consumer capitalism; the zombie functions to clean the slate and enable the world to rebuild anew.
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