Returned I.B.R

   William Goldberg 813

     The book "The Returned" features an organization called "The International Bureau of the Returned" who try to keep the world orderly when people start to "return" from the dead. Many people are a part of this organization making it so that many people that deal with returned people have differing points of view.
     There are some people in the organization who decide to deal with the supposed zombies as if they're terrible creatures that need to be dealt so appropriately. One of these people is Colonel Willis. He talks to them only to get the information he needs, not to help them in a time of great need. He also patrols the town of Arcadia for the Returned specifically to be the one that puts them in jail. In this case, jail would be a school in Arcadia that was taken over by the army to be used as a prison for the Returned. He takes his job too seriously and doesn't take in the matter of specific circumstances. For example, when Jacob (a returned kid) and his father, Harold, are sitting by the lake and not doing anything, Willis captures them and after a trial takes place, puts them into the prison. Willis is one of the top men in the Bureau, proving that others think like him.
     Then there is the other, more preferable side (in my opinion) to the situation. Some in the organization actually treat the Returned like human beings. One person who does this is Agent Martin Bellamy. Bellamy tries to help the people he interviews about their death or the death of their loved one. This includes when he talks to Jacob's family, he doesn't just interview them and then leave their lives forever, he still talks to them and still tries to help them with their struggles. He understands normal people and their problems. He doesn't go out and try to find Returned to imprison. He's one of the few people like this in the Bureau. At least, it seems this way.
     In conclusion, I believe that people in the International Bureau of the Returned have opposing views on how to handle the Returned. If people just always acted like Martin Bellamy in the book, and in real life (no prejudice towards a group of people), then somethings in the world today would just evaporate, some for the good, and some for the bad.