American War: Covers the entire United States, referencing both physical change of environment and political

Moon of the Crusted Snow - a human acting inhumane

Both were once considered humans

Moon of the Crusted Snow having a more positive change in culture - children learning the language, people learning to hunt again

World War Z: almost all over the world

WWZ's individual stories/sections have a similar feeling in terms of connection, but overall follow too many different stories to have the same detailed development.

How nature reclaimed the land in Arboreality:

• Seasons of fire, rushing floods down the street in story 2

• The forests are described as tinderboxes awaiting their new fate

• Attempt to rebuild, trying to create a perfect garden and control nature 

• Oceanline rising, causing water damage and destruction to infrastructure 

• Library water damaged, forcing people to preserve books they found important/practical 

How nature reclaimed the land in Earth Abides: 

• Rusting bridges - the wind causes the eventual corrosion of bridges

• Trees topple down onto roads

• Plants grow through cement cracks

• Forest fires burn unchecked

• Animal populations experience boom-bust cycles of overpopulation and decline

• Man-made systems like bridges, electrical grids, and water infrastructure deteriorate over time 

• Mostly lack of water 

Both Arboreality and Earth Abides include:

• Large-scale forest fires 

• An attempt to control their own portion of nature (gardens, lawns, etc.)

• Nature inflicting damage on a library and important literature

• Both take place on the west coasts where nature dominates humans again, the idea of domination over the land is destroyed and questioned

• Questions capitalism’s place in the world when nature takes over once more (Arboreality, 70)—> stripping the land for metals when there’s no consumer base left. Earth Abides with the signs pointing to sales that no longer matter

WWZ:

• The zombies in WWZ are very literal monsters, even if at times they have political symbolism. They wear the face of humans, but at no point are we unsure of their motives or actions

Moon of the Crusted Snow

• never fully revealed whether or not Scott is a monster from the beginning/has always been inhuman, or if he has become that way through his actions and choices.

• Scott's monstrous actions could symbolize that making those choices/actions makes you a monster/inhuman.

• Scott never stops "pretending" to be human until the end

• implies that being human is in your morality

  
  

• Both communities are cut off from external support

  • Moon of the Crusted Snow: remote Anishinaabe reserve;

  • Earth Abides: post-pandemic collapse of infrastructure).

• Psychological isolation: Characters live with uncertainty, loss of modern connectivity, and existential dread.

• Survival depends on small, tight-knit groups rather than larger societal structures.