Erin made a note in her blog post that Zone One contained language of water and fluidity I noticed a comparable amount of language to isolation and containment. One of the things we keep cycling back to in our class is containment and the desire for things to be contained. We see all sorts of references to terminology that expresses a desire for containment and isolation.  Whitehead infuses this language of throughout the novel with examples being:

“Zone” the title -Merriam Webster defines a zone as “a region or area set off as distinct

from surrounding or adjoining parts”

“With sidewalks hidden from view”

“Islands”

“Japanese room dividers”

There is also isolation the way Spitz interacts with other throughout the novel, realizing he can not become too close to someone in case he has to leave them and they die. And isolation is contrasted in Spitz’s flashback memories to the “old world”, most of them were of him interacting with other humans or a time he was with someone, but then when he comes back to his reality it is mainly talk of killing off the skels and the reactive instinct he has to his surroundings. Spitz isolation stems from him reverting to his instinct to survive the plague and by isolating himself from his surroundings emotionally it creates a sort of quarantined safe haven for him in the beginning through the middle of the novel.