Fear the Walking Dead: Daniel Salazar’s best lines so far
By Susie Graham
Débil/Weak
This line, or word rather, punctuated the feeling from “You knew this man.” Travis didn’t learn anything from seeing Peter attack him. This is one time I felt bad for Travis. I don’t think he’s weak. He’s just way behind Daniel in his understanding of what’s going on. He thinks there could be a cure. How can we justify murdering these sick people? Why aren’t we restraining them and hospitalizing them?
I don’t think Travis will be weak once his brain wraps around the idea that they are dead. They are monsters. They are the dog he taught in his classroom. They are a freak of nature. It’s not murder.
The gun does not care how you feel about it.
This was an interesting response from Daniel to Travis when Travis got angry at Daniel and even at Madison for teaching Chris about guns. Instead of apologizing for overstepping his place in Travis’s home with his son or defending himself by trying to sway Travis into seeing his point of view, Daniel simply said something completely impersonal.
It almost underlined the impersonal nature of their relationship. They are strangers. Just because Daniel and his family is living in Travis’s home doesn’t make them friends just yet. It’s a matter of circumstances. They got quarantined together. Daniel is like the gun. He doesn’t care how Travis feels about him. “The gun doesn’t care how you feel about it. ”
I realized my father is a fool for believing there was a difference.
“My father told me not to have hatred in my heart. He said that men do these things not because of evil. They do evil because of fear. And at that moment, I realized my father is a fool for believing there was a difference.”
This was a beautiful little story. Especially since you expected it to end in a different place. There’s something in Latin American literature called magical realism. The element of fantasy mixed with reality. The idea of loveable fools show up in the literature as well. And in Mexican folktales, a clever twist is often the end of the story rather than a simple moral.
This story doesn’t exactly qualify. But it does have a Latin American flavor. The imagery of the men surrounding him like fish. His father being a fool. And the twist being that you think the moral is not to have hostility. To feel sorry for the men because they act out of fear.
The twist comes after you think you’ve absorbed the beautiful lesson. Does it really matter why the people do what they do? The action is the same, Does the intention change the outcome? If Daniel thinks his father is a fool to think so. We learn a lot about Daniel.
This lesson can be extended to the infected. Does it matter that they don’t intend to do harm? Does that mean we shouldn’t kill them? Do we not need to defend ourselves? Just as the gun does not care how you feel about it. The walkers do not care how you feel about them.
If it happens, it will happen quickly. You must be prepared.
Daniel has an air of acceptance. I’ve thought a lot about the stages of grief in relation to The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead there is quite a bit of denial, anger and bargaining at any given time, depression and acceptance comes in The Walking Dead at times, about certain aspects of what they’ve lost. But in Fear the Walking Dead Daniel seems to be in a calm state of acceptance even within his denial.
He warns Madison, “If it happens, it will happen quickly.” He doesn’t want her to wait around anymore for things to return to normal. To count on the government. It’s not really the government anymore. It’s bits and pieces of military and makeshift military acting like government. Things have broken down. This is bigger than the government can handle. “You must be prepared.”
I hope Daniel stays calm and perhaps becomes more patient with Travis. He has already become somewhat fond of Madison. I hope to learn much more about Daniel in the last two episodes of the first season of Fear the Walking Dead. And I hope he gets more great lines!
Next: A Guide to the First Season of Fear the Walking Dead
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