History Literature / ZForZachariah

* DoubleStandard: the novel tends to split opinions down gender lines. Women tend to identify with Ann and agree with her refusal to have sex with Loomis as they are not romantically involved (she actually fantasises about them eventually getting married). By contrast men question why she resists, for all they know they are the last 2 people on earth and need to keep the human race going?

* IdiotBall:
** Loomis survives in a nuclear wasteland for a year, yet doesn't think to check the radiation level of the water before he takes a bath in it.
*** Arguably justified. There were two streams in the valley; one uncontaminated (it rose from a spring in the valley) and one contaminated (it flowed in from the outside). When Loomis arrives in the valley, he discovers the first stream and tests it, finding it to be uncontaminated. Being unfamiliar with the valley, he is unaware that there are two streams and when he returns to take his bath, he does not realize that he actually came to the second (contaminated) stream.
*** You Fail Health Physics Forever--there's no way a stream could be that contaminated a year after the war so as to be able to give a person radiation sickness by bathing in it.
** Loomis tries to force himself on Ann when he's literally the last man on Earth as far as she knows, so she likely would have eventually come to him willingly if he had just treated her nicely (then again, he ''is'' suffering from some SanitySlippage, so likely isn't able to think clearly or long-term).

* BolivianArmyEnding: [[spoiler:The novel ends with Ann venturing out of the valley using Loomis' radiation suit and into the radiated zone, looking for other survivors. She's hopeful about her fate and has a dream of her teaching that ''may'' be DreamingOfThingsToCome, but it's equally likely that she'll become sick and die without ever meeting other survivors.]]

* BolivianArmyEnding: [[spoiler:The novel ends with Ann venturing out of the valley and into the radiated zone, looking for other survivors. She's hopeful about her fate and has a dream of her teaching that ''may'' be DreamingOfThingsToCome, but it's equally likely that she'll become sick and die without ever meeting other survivors.]]

** Loomis tries to force himself on Ann when he's literally the last man on Earth as far as she knows, so she likely would have eventually come to him willingly if he had just treated her nicely.

*** Arguably justified. There were two streams in the valley; one uncontaminated (it rose from a spring in the valley) and one contaminated (it flowed in from the outside). When Loomis arrives in the valley, he discovers the first stream and tests it, finding it to be uncontaminated. Being unfamiliar with the valley, he is unaware that there are two streams and when he returns to take his bath, he does not realize that he actually come to the second (contaminated) stream.

** Loomis tries to force himself on Ann when he's literally the last man on Earth as far as she knows, so would have come to him willingly eventually.

It's a [[AfterTheEnd post-apocalyptic]] novel for young adults, following sixteen-year-old Ann Burden, who believes she's the only survivor of a nuclear war that seems to have wiped out the rest of the world. For a largely [[HandWave unexplained reason]], the valley in which she lives seems to have escaped the nuclear fallout, meaning she's able to make it on her own.

* TheMovie: A made-for-TV movie was produced in Britain in 1984. The setting was changed to Wales, but much of the rest of the story was left unaltered. A big-screen [[Film/ZForZachariah movie]] starring Creator/MargotRobbie, Creator/ChiwetelEjiofor and Creator/ChrisPine was released in 2015.

* IdiotBall: Loomis survives in a nuclear wasteland for a year, yet doesn't think to check the radiation level of the water before he takes a bath in it.
** Arguably justified. There were two streams in the valley; one uncontaminated (it rose from a spring in the valley) and one contaminated (it flowed in from the outside). When Loomis arrives in the valley, he discovers the first stream and tests it, finding it to be uncontaminated. Being unfamiliar with the valley, he is unaware that there are two streams and when he returns to take his bath, he does not realize that he actually come to the second (contaminated) stream.
** You Fail Health Physics Forever- there's no way a stream could be that contaminated a year after the war so as to be able to give a person radiation sickness by bathing in it.

* HiddenSupplies: Ann stocks a cave with supplies when Loomis first arrives, just in case she needs to hide for an extended period of time. This comes in handy later.

* TitleDrop: Played with. When she was a little girl, Ann had a Bible ABC book in which A was for Adam, the first man, so she assumed Zachariah was the last man.

* ApocalypseHow: Class 2, bordering on Class 3.

* BadDreams: Both Loomis and Ann have them, though Loomis's tend to be much worse because of the events that caused his SanitySlippage, as listed below. Ann's are simply the result of having lost her family and everyone she knew thanks to the war.