Morality and Ethics Quotes in The Walking Dead

Rick encounters a woman (maybe) who is so decomposed, she can't even move. But somehow, she's still alive. That's a fate no one would wish on anyone, and it moves Rick to tears.

Isn't that cute? It's practically the end of the world as we know it and Morgan's concerned that Rick, a cop, will do something because he's squatting in a house that isn't his.

Rick still believes that things are going to be okay, so he's concerned with maintaining the integrity of the police car he lets Morgan "borrow." We doubt a time will come when Morgan will have to return it, but Rick's trying to maintain a semblance of what's right and wrong.

Rick stops on the way to Atlanta to put the poor helpless corpse from panel 53 out of her misery. The fact that he shows mercy to a zombie shows us what a compassionate guy he is.

Gun control is definitely a thing of the past when zombies are involved. Pretty much everyone needs a firearm to protect themselves. The moral math is different here.

What should the age cutoff be for carrying a gun? Rick decides to let his seven-year-old carry one, but no one except his wife really seems to be concerned about it. But he has some serious standards about it—no unnecessary shooting allowed.

No one but Lori, that is. She doesn't think it's right for her son to carry a gun. She's of the opinion that things are too dangerous with the gun, while Rick thinks it would be too dangerous without it. It's an ethical dilemma, one that's debated constantly today.

When someone dies, it's up to the living to decide what to do with the body. Burial? Cremation? There's an added dilemma when zombies are involved: the dead might come back as a zombie. Andrea knows her sister wouldn't want that, so she puts a bullet through her head. Again, the moral world is turned on its head here.

On the opposite side of the coming-back-as-a-zombie moral spectrum is Jim. He wants to come back as a zombie, so he has everyone take him far far away from camp so he can transform. That's a real act of compassion on everyone's part, including Jim, who wants to minimize the danger to the others.

This chapter ends with a huge ethical mess. Shane was about to kill Rick (maybe) so Carl killed Shane. Is his action justified because he is protecting his dad? It's sad that a seven-year-old now knows what it's like to kill things, both human and non-human.