Nothing makes a zombie apocalypse narrative more frightening than believable elements. Any fantasy writer knows that realistic characters are essential in convincing their audience that their story is worth exploring. The zombie genre tends to be male-centered with token female characters, but AMC's The Walking Dead shows us practical images of women. One character has stood out each season: Carol Peletier, played by Melissa McBride.
Carol is introduced as a meek, submissive woman being mistreated by her husband, Ed. She tries her best to protect their child, Sophia, in the face of psychical and verbal abuse, but is not always successful. Throughout the show, the audience learns more about the dynamics of the relationship. For example, they discover how her and Sophia attempted to flee to a shelter but were brutally beaten upon their return home.
Her evolution begins early on, and can initially be seen when a confrontation at their camp ensues. Carol is washing clothes with the other women when they joke about missing their vibrators. Ed hears the laughter and returns from his labor-less duty of smoking cigarettes to demean Carol and demand she get back to work. When Andrea stands up to him, Carol is slapped. Shane then steps in and beats him within an inch of death. Carol, however, still runs to Ed's aid.
Later in this season, the camp is ambushed and Carol's husband falls victim to walkers. When Daryl returns to take care of the zombies, Carol stops him from impaling her deceased husband with an ax and does it herself. She becomes frantic, as if she had years of pain, fear, and anger pent up inside her.
Carol is then faced with the death of her daughter. She first gives into the sorrow, but realizes she has to be tough to survive. A slow but sure change in her can be seen throughout season two.
By the time seasons three and four roll around, Carol is no longer the woman she was before. She has gained medical knowledge from Hershel, experience with weaponry and survival, and begins to use her previous experiences as a housewife to act as a mother the rest of the group.
Carol even makes the difficult decision to kill people in their community who are sick and crazed. While grappling with her morality, she understands that Lizzie, a young girl Carol took under her wing who believes walkers aren't dangerous and kills her own sister, is an immense danger to their group. She makes the decision to shoot Lizzie, ending any possible problems that could've arose from Lizzie's rapid descent into insanity.
When she confesses her murders to Rick, he exiles her. During this time period, it is revealed that Carol had learned how to nurse a dislocated shoulder from the Internet before the world fell. She stated that it was easier than returning to the hospital frequently with the excuse of falling down the stairs, as she had been covering up Ed's abuse. Once again, Carol curves her damaging experiences into resourceful knowledge.
Carol undergoes her grandest transformation in the more recent seasons. In season five, she moves away from the care taker role and into an essential member of the team. She can be seen alongside Daryl taking part in a rescue mission and risking her life, far from her earlier view from the sidelines.
Even after being exiled, Carol returns to save her group, who are completely helpless, by smearing herself in walker blood to remain undetected and shooting a firecracker attached to her gun at a gas tank. She is the ultimate savior in this scenario, and regains the groups' trust.
The single scene is very powerful. A once powerless being, she has stepped up to salvage her crew.
In the last season, Carol's personality has morphed into one of maturity, sensibility, bravery, and realism. It's obvious she is aware of her ability to appear as a weak elderly lady, only to wreak havoc on whatever is standing in the way of survival. In "East," she shows this by taking on the role she once lived in order to take down the enemies.
Doctor Fox Sister from the blog The Supernatural Fox Sisters describes Carol's development as such: "If we have learned nothing else about Carol Peletier, it is that her path is hard to predict, and that no matter what she chooses, it will be fascinating entertainment."
Carol Peletier is, without a doubt, one of the most authentic female characters in the modern zombie genre. She is a testament of what many women can become in the face of adversity and against all odds. It took an apocalypse, but Carol found herself in the gloom of it all and came out guns blazing (literally). She is a timeless personality that many women can relate to and continue to be inspired by.
