Rick’s journey: Lessons of Manhood From "The Walking Dead" (Part 1)

THE SHERIFF

 

A sheriff was shot on duty and is in critical condition in a hospital.  He wakes up in the hospital...in the middle of a zombie apocalypse.  His name is Rick Grimes.  His first priority:  Find his wife Lori, and find his son Carl.  He doesn't stop until he finds them at a camp of survivors, and one of the survivors is his best friend Shane, a fellow officer, whose been in a relationship with Lori because they thought Rick was dead.  But he's not.  He's still a husband, father, and officer, or so he tries to be.

 

He wants to keep a sense of order and reality even among zombies, to maintain humanity.  He sees himself as a symbol, but he isn't incapable as a leader by any means.  He's responding the way any sane and decent sheriff would respond during hell on earth.  This is where Rick's journey begins, and where he starts to face opposition at almost every turn.

 

On one had, people look to him to make decisions and maintain peace.  But in this "new world," the laws have seemed to change, and the focus seems to be simply surviving the night.  Rick is a man of conscience, and delays decisions as long as he can.  But Shane and those like him see this as a weakness.  Kill or be killed.  Survive or die. It's just that simple. Or is it?  Not to Rick, who has a wife and son.  Having achieved his first goal of finding his family, he wants to secure their safety.

 

So his search begins:
Find and secure a base of living. 

But again, opposition.  Some want to keep moving.  Some don't know what they want to do.  Only Dale seems to agree with Rick's focus on maintaining humanity.  At the other end is Shane, killer survivor.  Lori and the others are in the middle.  Pulled between the two, and ostracized for almost any choice Rick makes, he's had enough...and so have I!  Enter the Ricktator. Begin the Ricktatorship.  Click HERE.