Arthur Sinclair, Jr.

Character Analysis

In the pre-zombie war chapters, you might have noticed that bureaucracy doesn't get much love. We sure did. The novel paints a picture of bureaucracy as slow and inefficient and shows bureaucrats as parasites only out to help themselves or their bank account.

But what's to be done differently? Big countries need bureaucracies. We make fun of them, but they actually do serve an important role.

Well, Arthur Sinclair, Jr. is the novel's answer to that question. Unlike previous corruptors of bureaucracy like Fernando Oliveira or Nury Televaldi, Arthur Sinclair, Jr. builds a bureaucratic system from the ground up that helps individuals combat the ghoulish multitudes.

What he does differently is focus on "find[ing] and harvest[ing] the right tools and talent" (6.1.3). He creates the National Reeducation Act to reach out to the people and educate them in the skills necessary (i.e. talents) to either A) support society or B) kill them some zombies. He also provides them resources (read: tools) to put those skills to use.

By educating and providing for the people, Sinclair starts a bureaucratic system that not only helps the individuals of society and society itself but also supports the bureaucrats. It's win-win-win.