This article introduces Coleson Whitehead's post apocalyptic zombie novel "The First Zone" and explores the food imagery and the dietary logic of "eating" and "being eaten" in the novel, as well as how they reveal public anxiety and social crises under the capitalist system. The novel explores issues such as capitalism, racial politics, and human subjectivity through zombie images and dietary behavior, presenting ethical propositions of "what to eat" and "who eats who" in a post apocalyptic world.

1. Metaphor of Zombies and Critique of Capitalism

Explored the relationship between zombie metaphors and capitalist criticism in Coleson Whitehead's novel 'The First Zone'. The article points out that zombies, as objects of post human imagination, shake the subjectivity of humanity and expose logical flaws in the dialectical relationship between subject and object. Whitehead combines food imagery with zombie metaphors to reveal the pathological consumption behavior of metropolises in the industrial civilization era. The recurring foods in the novel, such as fast food and junk food, reflect a portrayal of real life in America. Zombies transform into unconscious cannibals, alluding to greedy consumers and unrestrained consumerism. Meanwhile, the bloodthirsty violence of zombies also reflects human carnivorous behavior. The novel implies vegetarianism through the cultivation base of "corn" and criticizes the meat centered dietary habits of Western industrialized countries. The rapid spread of zombie viruses and the acceleration of their movement speed reflect the social phenomenon of fast processing of food and excessive consumption. Whitehead portrays various crisis manifestations under tight fiscal conditions, such as hunger, violence, and political instability, through a zombie narrative. The consequences of large-scale hunger are not only economic issues, but also closely related to political stability. Whitehead combines zombies, a new form of species in the post human era, with food imagery to criticize unrestrained consumerism under capitalism and rehearse the collapse of the capitalist system in the ultimate crisis.

Grid rationality and the reversal of the dietary chain

Explored how the survivalists in Coleson Whitehead's "The First Zone" confront zombies in the context of the apocalypse, as well as the contrast between hedonism in capitalist society and food scarcity in the apocalypse. The novel presents this contrast through flashback memory fragments. The interim government of Buffalo attempted to unify the food distribution network and restore social order through the city's building grid. The establishment of urban grid streets can be traced back to the ancient Greek architect Hippodame, whose grid road system and city square center showcase the spirit of democratic equality in the city-state. In the process of industrialization and urbanization in the United States, the combination of grid layout and modern mechanical technology has promoted urban planning and design, with Manhattan being a typical representative. This grid logic has been re implanted into the reconstruction work of the post apocalyptic world, for example, Buffalo calculates the number of zombies through detailed records of cleaners and speculates on the time cost of clearing zombies. The grid system meets the needs of rulers to regulate social order. In the novel, it is mentioned that before the plague, the truth of the grid had been applied to cities across the country. Although cities boasted of themselves as endless entities, an unrestricted grid, in reality, everyone was trapped in the cocoon of order formed by the grid. After the temporary government planned to restart urban construction work, the grid became an important tool for governance. The catering buildings have been redeployed as the central hub of the military control network, while restaurants and cafes have been transformed into briefing areas for the military to meet military needs. Although the food system constructed by human civilization is facing collapse and restaurants have temporarily lost their value in providing catering, they have once again gathered people into a united collective through their nostalgia for food, forming a pattern of confrontation with zombies on the streets. This nostalgia also inspires a sense of human hegemony in seizing power and occupying cities. The grid based measures attempted by the interim government to restore social order are facing the threat of zombie cannibalism, and the fantasies and nostalgia about food have prompted readers to rethink the ethical issues of who eats who and who is eaten by whom. Before the outbreak of the epidemic, the development of food industrialization met the dietary needs of humans, who were at the top of the food chain. New York is filled with a variety of modern foods, and consumers enjoy great autonomy and choice in the face of a rich variety of food types and flavors. Food can not only be produced through slaughterhouses or breeding farms, but the development of biotechnology and genetically modified technology can even allow food to grow in sterile laboratories or greenhouses without soil, sunlight, and the bodies of animals and plants, and ultimately appear on sealed supermarket shelves through enterprise marketing channels. However, after the outbreak of the epidemic, zombies disrupted the traditional food and supply chains in social order, and humans became prey in the eyes of zombies. In the zombie hunting ground, Spitz saw his face reflected in the milky white eyes of the human resources department zombies, frozen in the unconscious void. At this point, the zombies' single feeding motivation is identical to their uncontrollable eating desires during their lifetime. As non-human entities that feed on the blood of human life, zombies are driven by the desire to devour human flesh and eliminate human species. They attempt to seize control of the Earth from humans, completely denying and subverting human life hegemony. Whitehead rethought human behavior and position in the universe through the risk of being eaten, in order to eliminate self delusion and anthropocentrism. In order to alleviate the mental anxiety of being "eaten" by zombies, survivors seek comfort in cigarettes and alcohol, which have become indispensable items in the era of food scarcity disasters. Alcohol is one of the items not subject to robbery regulations, and preserved wines, bourbon whiskies, and cocktails have become the spiritual dependence of survivors. From lieutenant, soldier to cleaner, everyone has an ambiguous relationship with alcohol. The Bourbon whiskey in the lieutenant's mouth is not only a product of modern American industry and a symbol of the pre industrial era, but also a symbol of natural spirit and civilization. In the West, it is praised as a means of transcending the physical and entering the spiritual realm, but is also rejected for weakening willpower and unethical indulgence in bodily pleasure. In times of war, due to the fact that this item, which retains traces of cultural construction, can effectively alleviate people's anxiety, it has become an affordable luxury item in times of social downturn. Survivors also use whiskey to enhance their combat effectiveness. In addition, the number of smokers in the "first zone" is gradually increasing, and sponsored cigarettes are becoming more and more common, indicating that soldiers must rely on smoking to regulate themselves under the attack of the army of death. In wars of material scarcity, cigarettes rank high on the list of 'achievable desires'. These psychotropic drugs are important items in combating anxiety, supporting survivors to confront the wild "cannibals" in the rational network delineated by the interim government.

3 Foodies and Racial Political Anxiety

Coleson Whitehead's novel "The First Zone" explores racial political anxiety through zombie metaphors. In the novel, survivors struggle within the racist mechanisms of the biopolitical era, and the urban "clean-up plan" becomes a struggle between former rulers and zombies. Food has become the key to survival, and Buffalo is optimistic due to the availability of survival supplies. Soldiers abuse zombies to vent their emotions, while mental anxiety leads to the rush to buy drugs. Personal mental illness is linked to social inequality structures, revealing political and social issues in the country. The mental illness caused by zombie plague reflects the anxiety of white society towards the increasing number of black people. In the novel, the zombie army contrasts with the survivors, and human anxiety about reproduction becomes significant with the asexual reproduction of zombies. Whitehead uses the zombie revenge metaphor to satirize the myths of the "post racial" era, emphasizing the reality of racial discrimination in the United States. The historical origins of zombie slavery reveal the conquest and oppression between races. The slave zombies of the 21st century staged a battle between the former rulers and the Black Avengers in Whitehead's doomsday vision. The novel implies the handling of non white lives by white sovereign states, where the sovereign exerts extreme control through dehumanization and torture. The ghost of racial discrimination lingers in the city, and even if urban civilization is rebuilt, where should lives that are considered unimportant go?

4 Conclusion

Explored how Colson Whitehead used zombie metaphors in "The First Zone" to criticize the capitalist crisis and racism in American society. Through food writing and zombie narratives, the capitalist form, cultural anxiety, and social disorders of New York City are revealed, as well as the failure of capitalist political logic in the face of zombies. The dietary habits of characters reflect modern identity, industrial civilization, and consumer trends. The novel also criticizes the racist mechanisms in the biopolitical era, demonstrating the author's profound reflection on the management mechanisms of sovereignty and the post racial era of racial relations. Through the use of food imagery and zombie metaphors, this study examines the specific manifestations and hidden crises of food in capitalist society, extending the issue of the human food chain to the mode of coexistence between black and white races, and triggering a profound reflection on the operational mechanisms of cities in the 21st century and their impact on people's life experiences.