Love in "First Person Shooter"

Q & A

Is “First Person Shooter” a love story? (And what significance does the romantic plot have to the story?)

A seemingly simple story at first, some might consider “First Person Shooter” to be a love story, while others might argue that there is a much more complex purpose behind it. “First Person Shooter” is a post-apocalyptic tale about the brief experience a department store employee has with a zombie. Although a substantial amount of the story surrounds the main character’s interactions with the zombie, both the beginning and the end of the story center around the main character's relationship with his co-worker, Janine. The main character seems to form a bond with the zombie-lady, presenting to readers themes of overcoming differences and disregarding stereotypes. Despite the zombie-centered part of the story having a disappointing resolution, the main character does still gain a happy ending where Janine is concerned. Even though most of the story is about the main character’s relationship with the zombie, there could possibly be an argument made that it is still a love story between the main character and Janine. 

Near the end of the story, Janine approaches the zombie with a gun, threatening to kill her. While the main character convinces Janine not to shoot her, the zombie-lady is still visibly upset due to the contents of a video game which places zombies as the center of violence. Although it seems like the main character cares about the zombie, it is really only to an extent because he doesn't seem troubled by her continued unhappiness. Instead, the main character asks Janine out on a date, and joyful that she agrees, he ignores the zombie gloomily crawling away. While there is a somewhat happy ending for the main character, as he has finally found his confidence, there is no resolution to the plot with the zombie. This makes the zombie's part in the story feel less significant because it’s as if the zombie doesn’t deserve her happy ending as well.  As the relationship between the main character and the zombie advanced, I felt like the author was trying to make a point about overcoming differences in relationships, however, by the time the story was over, it felt like that theme was a sham because the main character chose someone who was the same as him (human). While the center of the story, for a while, was the relationship between the main character and the zombie, the final resolution to the story was that of Janine and the main character. This makes it feel like the whole point of the story was just leading up to the main character finally professing his feelings to Janine. 

On the other hand, however, you could argue that the main character’s relationship with Janine was merely a side plot. While the resolution of the story irks me, I still feel like the character's relationship with the zombie is more significant than his relationship with Janine. I think that even though the main character’s happy ending is due to the romance plot, I think the main purpose of the story centers around his relationship with the zombie, and not with Janine. I think you can definitely compare those two themes of the story within the last sentence, “Janine and I stand and watch for what feels like a very long time, enjoying the mix of hot and cold air here at the boundary of the store, glad to be on the inside.” (Yu 52; 40) While this quote does feature the main character and Janine together at the end of the story, I think it more importantly highlights the deeper repercussions of the main character and the zombie’s relationship, and how they are separated from each other once again. One person may look at the ending and think it’s the mark of a love story, however, I think this sentence more importantly points out the absence of the zombie and leaves readers thinking more about the zombie than the main character’s relationship with Janine. 

In conclusion, I think that “First Person Shooter” is not a love story. I think the author used Janine as a way to show character development in the main character. At the beginning of the story, the main character is too afraid to profess his feelings for Janine, but after the zombie fiasco, he gains a newfound confidence. The main character tells himself before he asks out Janine, “Why am I so self-conscious? What am I so scared of? It’s now or never.” (Yu 52; 40) His inner questioning is prompted by the experience he has with the zombie, showing that despite the sad resolution between the two characters, he has learned something valuable and possibly life-changing from it. Overall, I believe “First Person Shooter” was written as an examination of some sort of the types of relationships we form with people and how they are affected by our environment in complex ways. Although this story was probably not written with the focus on the romantic plot with Janine, it was still vital to the story to show the character's development. Without seeing how the main character interacted with people (Janine) before and after his experience with the zombie, we would never have been able to recognize how it has changed him.