In Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, parts four to five discusses a lot of the events that has occur before and after the Georgia Flu. I was mostly have interest in part four where a huge situation is develop. The Travelling Symphony has been separated and the adventure has begun to reunite themselves, this part was one of my favorites.

Before the separation the group reminisces before the apocalypse. During the beginning of chapter nineteen, the group tries to forget about the prophet from Severn City airport back in part two of the novel. They started to discuss about Symphony’s motto“survival is insufficient,” (119).  Dieter believes the motto would be an amazing motto if it wasn’t from the popular TV show Star Trek. This makes sense since the group always perform plays from Shakespeare. Many people would consider Shakespeare’s work to have a higher level of writing rather than the story of Star Trek. Kirsten disagrees with him since she has this phrase tattoo on her left forearm and a pair of knives in the other arm.. She said “…it remains my favorite line of text in the world” (119). This motto holds meaning to them since it means surviving is not the same as living. In order to live you must have a purpose, especially if you want to continue living in a apocalypse. This discussion between the Kirsten and Dieter is a way to cope through the awful live they are in. This silly conversation is something that meaning people normally do and did before the Flu. This is a good way overcome any sadness they have. Later on to chapter twenty-two, two of the Symphony’s members disappeared Sayid and Dieter.

After the members disappearance the group continues onward. It was strange as how Sayid and Dieter suddenly vanished out of thin air. Especially since their are no traces of them to know what had happened to them (137). It is easy to assume that the prophet sent out his followers to capture the The Travelling Symphony, even Kirsten believes so as well. The group can’t figure out why they would leave however they decided to continue travelling since they have made a protocol for these instances. Alexandra explains this protocol, “We never travel without a destination. If we’re ever, if you’re ever separated from the Symphony on the road, you make your way to the destination and wait,” (138). This creates a real situation of surviving.  Memorization is key for this instance because as it was explain if anyone gets left behind they can always regroup to the destination that is set up. This will increase the members’ chances to survive. Later on their journey both Kirsten and August lost their group. If the group never made the separation protocol they most likely will find their group again.

I have really enjoyed reading part four of the novel. It gives In order to survive this harsh environment, Kirsten and August have to continue their journey to find their group again. They go through many situation where they almost got shot by man in chapter twenty-four where they obtain some information about Charlie and Jeremy. This will become more interesting when we find out what has happened to them.  Also when they have found an abandon house with a lock door (149). They enter to find out nobody has loot the place yet. This is a strong moment for them since they can almost feel like they have gone back in time and remember what it is like to live in a normal house. This kind of journey improves their bond together as they find some amazing artifacts like a Star Trek ship or the Dear V novel.