History Literature / ZForZachariah

* BadDreams: Both Loomis and Ann have them, though Loomis's tend to be much worse because of the reason 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.
* 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, just as the rest of the population, as well as her own family, did.]]

* DepopulationBomb: This created the deadly mushrooms.

''Z For Zachariah'' is a 1975 novel by Robert C. O'Brien (the same author who wrote ''Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh'', later made into ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfNIMH'' by Creator/DonBluth). 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.

* ShootTheDog: Literally; after realizing Loomis is using her dog to track down her scent, Ann has no other choice.

* ApocalypseHow: Class 2, bordering on Class 3.

* LaserGuidedKarma: Loomis greatly fears being alone, but it's his actions that drive Ann to leave. In the book he begs her not to go, in the film he begs her to come back someday. She quite reasonably points out that her leaving is entirely his fault.
* 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 movie starring Creator/MargotRobbie, Creator/ChiwetelEjiofor and Creator/ChrisPine was released in 2015.

* [[UsefulNotes/NuclearWeapons The Deadliest Mushroom]]: Takes care of most of the world.

* DepopulationBomb: Created the deadly mushrooms.

* HammerAndSickleRemovedForYourProtection: The enemy in the war is never named. Given the time the book was written, it was probably intended to be the Soviet Union, but a modern reader might be equally tempted to assume [[MakeTheBearAngryAgain modern Russia]], [[UsefulNotes/RedChina China]], or even UsefulNotes/NorthKorea.

* AdaptationalAlternateEnding: [[spoiler:The film ends with Ann and Loomis deciding to carry on living together without yet looking for other survivors.]]
* AdaptationDecay: The film removes the cat-and-mouse nature of Ann and Loomis's relationship (as well as the latter's increasingly villainy) in favor of more of a LoveTriangle with a post-apocalyptic backdrop.
* AdaptationExpansion: The 2015 film introduces a third survivor, a man named Caleb.
* AdaptationalHeroism: Loomis is portrayed much more sympathetically in the 2015 film.

* AgeLift: Ann is a teenager in the novel, but a grown woman in the film.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:The film. Loomis [[KarmaHoudini gets away with likely]] [[MurderTheHypotenuse killing Caleb]], with Ann apparently none the wiser. Having no other alternatives, and despite having stronger feelings for Caleb, she stays with Loomis and the two apparently start a new life together.]]

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:If Loomis did kill Caleb, he's this by the end, living with Ann with no more competition, and with her apparently none the wiser of his deeds.]]

* LoveTriangle: Between Ann, Caleb, and Loomis in the film.

* MurderTheHypotenuse: [[spoiler:Implied with Caleb.]]

* RaceLift: Loomis in the film.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:The film. Loomis [[KarmaHoudini gets away with likely]] [[KillTheHypoteneuse killing Caleb]], with Ann apparently none the wiser. Having no other alternatives, and despite having stronger feelings for Caleb, she stays with Loomis and the two apparently start a new life together.]]

* KillTheHypoteneuse: [[spoiler:Implied with Caleb.]]

* HammerAndSickleRemovedForYourProtection: The enemy in the war is never named. Given the time the book was written, it was probably intended to be the Soviet Union, but a modern reader might be equally tempted to assume [[MakeTheBearAngryAgain modern Russia]], [[UsefulNotes/RedChina China]], or even [[UsefulNotes/NorthKorea]].

* WorldWarIII: It lasted approximately two weeks before everything died.

* ShootTheDog: Literally.

This novel provides examples of:

* AdaptationalHeroism:Loomis is portrayed much more sympathetically in the 2015 film.

* 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 movie starring Creator/MargotRobbie, Creator/ChiwetelEjiofor and Creator/ChrisPine is set for release in 2015.

* TitleDrop: 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.

There was a BBC made-for-tv movie in 1984, and a big screen adaption is planned for 2015. The first trailer can be viewed [[https://youtu.be/5k5tlNHUCj0 here]], but it suggests a very loose adaptation.

* AdaptionalHeroism:Loomis is portrayed much more sympathetically in the 2015 film.

There was a BBC made-for-tv movie in 1984, and a big screen adaption is planned for 2015.

** A big-screen movie starring Margot Robbie, Chiwetil Ejiofor and Chris Pine is set for release in 2015.

* AuthorExistenceFailure: O'Brien died before the last chapter was written, and his family finished it based on his notes.

* TheDeadliestMushroom: Takes care of most of the world.

''Z For Zachariah'' is a 1975 novel by Robert C. O'Brien (the same author who wrote ''Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh'', later made into ''TheSecretOfNIMH'' by Creator/DonBluth). 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.

A year after the war, another person, a man named John Loomis, finds her valley. He's survived thanks to [[TechnoBabble a suit]] he designed before the war, a prototype of a radiation suit that had been planned to be mass-produced before the war interrupted it. He gives himself radiation sickness by bathing in a contaminated stream, leaving Ann to take care of him. At first he seems okay, but as he gets better he becomes more and more controlling and downright creepy, culminating in an attempt to rape Ann.

* DepopulationBomb: Created the deadly mushrooms.

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

* PropheticDreams: Possibly. At one point Ann dreams of a classroom of children she's teaching, and it's implied that it might be a dream of what she'll find once she's left the valley.

* CompleteMonster: Loomis becomes this, though he doesn't appear to have been one prior to the end of the world. See DrivenToVillainy below.

''Z For Zachariah'' is a 1975 novel by Robert C. O'Brien (the same author who wrote ''Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh'', later made into ''TheSecretOfNIMH'' by DonBluth). 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.

* You Fail Meteorology Forever: Nuclear fallout does not work that way.