World War Z

World War Z

by

Max Brooks

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on World War Z makes teaching easy.
One of the much-admired heroes of the novel. He is famous among armies all over the world for coming up with the square formation to fight the zombies so soldiers could face the enemy on every side. At one battle, his crew ran out of ammunition and knew they would all die—and yet, Raj-Singh refused to leave his men and planned to fight with them till the end. Finally, one of his soldiers hit him in the face with his rifle, and when Raj-Singh fainted from the pain, they carried him away to safety. This incident highlights Raj-Singh’s sense of fairness, as well as his soldiers’ deep admiration for him. They knew he would be useful in war and wanted to save his life. Raj-Singh makes his final appearance on a mountain pass by the Himalayas where Sergeant Mukherjee is struggling with the responsibility of having to blow up the pass to prevent the zombies from getting into India’s safe zone. However, there are many people on the bridge who will be blown up, too, so Raj-Singh says he will press the detonator and take on the responsibility of their deaths. When the bombs don’t detonate, Raj-Singh rushes into the crowd to fix it and succeeds in blowing up the bridge. In the process, he dies along with the other people on the bridge, but he succeeds in sealing off the safe zone from zombies. His action is similar to Captain Chen’s, who takes on the responsibility of killing people in order to save others. Raj-Singh is also a foil to General Lang, who took the easy way out by committing suicide when he was burdened with guilt.

General Raj-Singh Quotes in World War Z

The World War Z quotes below are all either spoken by General Raj-Singh or refer to General Raj-Singh. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Humanity vs. Monstrosity Theme Icon
).
Chapter 6: Around the World, and Above Quotes

She…she wouldn’t leave, you see. She insisted, over the objections of Parliament, to remain at Windsor, as she put it, “for the duration.” I thought maybe it was misguided nobility, or maybe fear-based paralysis. I tried to make her see reason, begged her almost on my knees.

What did she say?

“The highest of distinctions is service to others.” […] Their task, their mandate, is to personify all that is great in our national spirit. They must forever be an example to the rest of us, the strongest, and bravest, and absolute best of us.

Related Characters: Narrator (speaker), David Allen Forbes (speaker), General Raj-Singh, Captain Chen, T. Sean Collins, The Queen
Page Number: 193-194
Explanation and Analysis:
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General Raj-Singh Quotes in World War Z

The World War Z quotes below are all either spoken by General Raj-Singh or refer to General Raj-Singh. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Humanity vs. Monstrosity Theme Icon
).
Chapter 6: Around the World, and Above Quotes

She…she wouldn’t leave, you see. She insisted, over the objections of Parliament, to remain at Windsor, as she put it, “for the duration.” I thought maybe it was misguided nobility, or maybe fear-based paralysis. I tried to make her see reason, begged her almost on my knees.

What did she say?

“The highest of distinctions is service to others.” […] Their task, their mandate, is to personify all that is great in our national spirit. They must forever be an example to the rest of us, the strongest, and bravest, and absolute best of us.

Related Characters: Narrator (speaker), David Allen Forbes (speaker), General Raj-Singh, Captain Chen, T. Sean Collins, The Queen
Page Number: 193-194
Explanation and Analysis: