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Prologue
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Dread Nation, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Legacy of Slavery
Racism and Trauma
Religion and Power
Friendship, Community, and Liberation
Systemic Oppression and Change
Summary
Analysis
Years later, Jane writes a letter to Momma. In the letter, Jane says she’s been at a school run by Miss Preston for three years. Jane writes that she hasn’t heard from Momma for some time but that the teachers at the school seem to genuinely care for their students.
Each chapter begins with a short excerpt of a letter that Jane writes to Momma. These letters then provide insight into Jane’s life, her emotions, and her relationship with Momma.
Themes
At the school, Jane receives combat training from Miss Duncan, who advises Jane on the proper way to hold a scythe. Miss Duncan fought the “shamblers” (the walking dead) for ten years in the Army. At school, Jane is friends with Sue, whom Jane sees as genuinely kind. Meanwhile, Jane is frequently at odds with Katherine. Katherine can pass for White, and Jane doesn’t know exactly how Katherine ended up at the school. But Jane also thinks Katherine is the prettiest girl at the school, which immediately made Jane dislike Katherine when Katherine first arrived at the school.
This passage establishes the novel’s setting. The scene takes place in the years following the Civil War, and it seems that the country’s military forces are now dedicated to fighting the influx of the shamblers, which are, more or less, the novel’s version of zombies. This passage also shows that Jane seems to instinctively put distance between herself and others, like Katherine, perhaps due to the trauma that Jane has previously experienced due to racism.
Themes
Miss Preston’s school is one of many that were built in the country in the aftermath of the Great Discord, the time period immediately after Civil War soldiers began rising from their graves. The schools were founded as a result of the “Negro and Native Reeducation Act.” Many in Congress disagreed with the plan to make Black and Native people fight the dead, but the majority party, the Survivalists, passed the bill, and now there’s nothing anyone can do to change it.
This passage provides background information to explain the current state of affairs in the U.S. The “Negro and Native Reeducation Act” bears similarities to the real-life policy through which Native people were forcibly sent to boarding schools that sought to erase Native culture. Abuse, forced labor, and unnecessary deaths of children were common at those schools.
Themes
After class, Miss Preston’s daughter, Ruthie, finds Jane and tells her that Miss Preston wants to see her. Jane goes to Miss Preston’s office, where Miss Preston and Miss Anderson, Jane’s etiquette teacher, are waiting. Miss Preston says that Jane is on the verge of failing her etiquette class. Jane retorts that Miss Anderson is sabotaging her by putting material on the tests that they haven’t covered in class. Miss Anderson, who is White, responds by making racist comments about Jane. Miss Preston then dismisses Miss Anderson.
This passage shows that Jane is willing to stand up and fight for herself and what she believes in. The novel then shows that Miss Anderson is sabotaging Jane because she (Miss Anderson) is racist, underlining the role that racist and White supremacist figures play in structures of power in the novel. Notably, Miss Preston responds by seeming to take Jane’s side, suggesting that Miss Preston may be an ally to Jane.
Themes
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When they’re alone, Miss Preston tells Jane that because the dead (or the shamblers, as they’re called) have been more or less wiped out in the cities, wealthy families in those cities now hire Attendants (who accompany families to defend them from shamblers), mostly to signal their high social status. Because of that, Miss Preston says, etiquette is more important than ever. Jane knows that she wants an Attendant Certificate from Miss Preston’s school because that school is considered one of the best in the country. With that certificate, Jane thinks she’ll be able to do what she wants in life. Miss Preston then says that because Jane’s combat marks are some of the highest in the school, she’s going to give Jane another chance and assign Miss Duncan to be her etiquette teacher.
This passage points to the racist and unjust structures of power that define the country at the time. At this point, though slavery has ostensibly been abolished, Black and Native people are forced to attend combat schools to fight the shamblers while White people remain at home in relative peace and security. Considering that the novel takes place in the years immediately following the Civil War, the book then uses the unjust and racist power structures related to the shamblers as a metaphor for the way that structural racism continued to shape political policies during the Reconstruction era in the U.S.
Themes
