Pretty Zombie Lady: A Mirror's Intimacy

Sentence Analysis: "First Person Shooter"

“At one point she stops in front of a mirror and looks at herself and I’m looking at her look at herself, [..] and we lock eyes, we’re making eye contact with each other in our reflections in the mirror.” (Yu 51; 38)

          Charles Yu’s “First Person Shooter”, at first glance, seemingly checks all the boxes of your classic zombie story, but he includes his own twist on the concept of zombies in fiction. Yu introduces characters such as Pretty Zombie Lady through the perspective of a human man, and he recounts, “At one point she stops in front of a mirror and looks at herself and I’m looking at her look at herself, [..] and we lock eyes, we’re making eye contact with each other in our reflections in the mirror.” (Yu 51; 38) He not only reintroduces the zombie genre into fiction, but he reimagines it. This excerpt alone from the story opens a gateway of compassion and modernity in his description of Pretty Zombie Lady’s perception of self. This sentence perfectly illustrates the complexity of the zombie in the story. Yu did not choose to simply write another zombie story about zombie vs. humanity. Instead, he writes of the humanity within all zombies in the genre of fiction.

          Yu settles into a casual prose throughout the entire story, emanating a welcoming, warm feeling– similar to the tone of a friend reminiscing in a random scenario that they went through the other day. His use of common, basic words without fancy fluff to describe the scene or the situation supports the causal tone of the story. He also uses repetition in the sentence, “[...] looks at herself and I’m looking at her look at herself,” to support the on-the-spot storytelling feel. With the redundancy, the description starts to feel like it is being told from memory, purely from the narrator what he can recall of his experience with Pretty Zombie Lady. Yu also does something seemingly minute in the section of the sentence reading, “we lock eyes, we’re making eye contact with each other”. This repetition of thought in the present-tense further ignites the idea that this story comes from the memory of the narrator who is recalling this experience. The style and structure of the sentence is pretty long, and its redundancy follows that of a sentence someone would say when telling a story around the campfire.

          The sentence in “First Person Shooter” not only conveys the tones and structures of casual discussion, but it also reinvents the concept of the zombie. Zombies in fiction, whether it be movies or literature, often have the same attributes: undead/diseased, eats brains, is impulsive, acts on animalistic instinct, and is void of all humanity. These themes, although nostalgic, tend to be repetitive or predictable. One of the most distinct features of zombies in fiction is their stark contrast between them and the humans. This narrative is also often framed in a good, being the humans, versus evil, the zombie creatures. However, Charles Yu demonstrates a new way to humanize the stereotypical zombie character in writing. The act of being self-conscious or having an insecurity of your appearance to the outside world is a very human trait. A trait that Yu gives Pretty Zombie Lady. The story describes the relationship between human and zombie, a symbiotic relationship ignited from a sincere curiosity and a wanting of opinion from others. Pretty Zombie Lady leads the narrator around to ask him for his opinion on her products for her date while the narrator follows her out of curiosity and wonder. Janine is a great example of the skepticism one may feel when encountering a zombie, as her immediate reaction is to run for a weapon. However, she never gives Pretty Zombie Lady a chance to show herself as more than just rotting flesh that still walks about. Instead, Pretty Zombie Lady acts human. This humanity given to her breaks the mold for the stereotypical zombie character. The relationship between the narrator and Pretty Zombie Lady is deepened when she not only expresses humanity, but she expresses vulnerability. When she looks into the mirror, she sees something that the narrator cannot quite decipher because she seems to analyze herself in her mind. She not only studies herself– or potentially critiques herself– but she acknowledges the presence of the narrator with, “[...] we lock eyes, we’re making eye contact with each other in our reflections in the mirror.” The stereotypical zombie would simply walk past a mirror, not having the human instinct to check herself. However, Pretty Zombie Lady goes beyond just glancing into the mirror. She really gives her appearance thought, seeing a version of herself that only she can fully see. When she acknowledges the narrator, they see each other's vulnerabilities in an intimate locking of eyes, peeling away some layers so the other can non-verbally communicate their internal thoughts and feelings. It is said that the eyes are the windows to the soul, so the act of looking through a mirror into each other's eyes adds incredible depth and humanity to Pretty Zombie Lady. It is one thing to make eye contact with each other, but the mirror strips away any facades of character. A mirror is meant for one to be able to really see themselves in a way no one will ever really be able to see– the inverted version of the one that the rest of the world sees. The act of the two characters looking into each other's eyes through the mirror shows the stripped raw version of each other, seeing each other's true souls, human souls.

          The author does what very few zombie stories have done before, give a zombie humanity. The sentence explains the experience of perception and intimacy in the most humanizing way, but about a creature that seems to be anything but human. The use of the mirror in the sentence is like putting glasses on for the first time, sharpening your vision and giving you new sight into the world around you. In the narrator’s case, he sees Pretty Zombie Lady just as he sees Janine, his crush. Pretty Zombie Lady’s humanity and vulnerability with him makes the narrator question his feelings and essentially all that he knows, not just about zombies, but about what it means to be human. This particular sentence stuck out because it single handedly exemplifies all things that are human: the self-consciousness and insecurities, the walls we put up so that we do not get hurt, the vulnerability and intimacy that you can share with someone special, the curiosity of the unknown, the seeking for approval/opinion, and the wanting to be loved until they leave you heartbroken. Most zombies would eat your brains, but Charles Yu’s Pretty Zombie Lady has her grip on the narrator’s heart.