Kensie Linick

Critical Essay

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies in Transformative Education

According to the website Teaching For Change, “Transformative education holds that

‘learning is understood as a process of using a prior interpretation to construe a new or revised

interpretation of the meaning of one’s experience in order to guide future action.’” A genre

that has recently emerged in young adult literature is mashup novels. Seth Grahame-Smith’s

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was one of the first novels of this genre to gain popularity. His

novel is a primary example of the power and effectiveness of creative liberty, especially in the

field of transformative education.

Grahame-Smith began with Jane Austen’s original script and then built upon her work,

adding zombies, warfare, and an even more sensual romance. Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice

follows the Bennet family and their search for husbands and their own place in English society.

Grahame-Smith keeps the element of the close-knit Bennet family, but in addition to their

pursuit of finding husbands, he presents the sisters as trained and skilled zombie-killing

warriors, especially the second eldest sister Elizabeth. As zombie attacks grow more frequent,

handsome young bachelors Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy arrive in the village. Elizabeth is

immediately repulsed by the arrogant yet equally-skilled, zombie-fighting Mr. Darcy. After

many unexpected plot twists that also occur in Austen’s original novel, simply including

Grahame-Smith’s added zombies and gore, Elizabeth comes to appreciate and fall in love with

Mr. Darcy. The Bennet family and Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy continue into happily ever after and

zombie-killing bliss.
 Critics and readers alike approach Grahame-Smith’s Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

with contrasting opinions and takeaways. Some reviewers saw it as a positive tribute to

Austen’s original novel, while others found it a disrespectful and distasteful rendition.

Grahame-Smith shares his perspective and intent in an interview with Paste magazine. He

elaborates, “The more I read the original book, the more I realized it was almost as if the book

was written for this kind of treatment. The more I thought about contrasting the repressive and

restrictive nature of the Regency Era aristocracy with the zombie apocalypse, the funnier it

was.” He continues, “If I made one good decision in approaching the book, it’s that I had an

instinct that the way to do it was as sincerely as humanly possible—to never acknowledge that

this was a joke.” Grahame-Smith’s intent is not to mock or degrade Austen’s novel but rather

create and share his own unique interpretation and response.

Response is the most powerful tool in transformative education. Pride and Prejudice and

Zombies supports transformative education in the best sense. As previously mentioned,

Grahame-Smith’s novel is an offering of his own response to Austen’s original masterpiece. His

own courageous decision to take on the task of modifying a classic novel and face the risk of

criticism for doing so encourages readers, especially those that are still students, to do the

same. Literature is always transforming, and that is the result of readers becoming leaders. The

popularity of the mashup genre may never have come to fruition without Grahame-Smith’s

ideas and execution of those ideas. When students read his work or work similar to his, they are

challenged to find the beauty of creative liberty in their own ideas.

In addition to challenging students, Grahame-Smith’s work catches and maintains their

interest. Mashup literature supports transformative education because it adds to and enhances
the prior experience that students have. Many students read Austen’s Pride and Prejudice in

high school or even before, but not all of them are interested in reading it for anything more

than a class assignment. Mashup novels like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies offer a fresh

perspective on classic novels that could have once been disregarded by modern readers. After

reading a novel like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, young readers may then be interested to

read the original to see how it compares to original author’s intent.

Questioning Grahame-Smith’s purpose is an understandable reaction, but readers must

remember that his novel is merely his own response. His novel is an enjoyable blend of the

aspects that make Austen’s novel so lovable and the thrill of the modern-day zombie element.

While Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is graphic and gory, as are the illustrations included in

some editions, the book is appropriate and helpful for mature readers as they explore the

power of response and continue to learn and grow in transformative education.