Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel gives the readers a taste of death, survival, fate, civilization and memories. She takes us through what once was and how things are now. As the story goes on we also see how everyone somehow interlinks. We also see how any decision that the characters in this story make begin to shape them for who we now know them as.

Constantly throughout Station Eleven we are inside of Arthur’s life. It is almost as if this story was mainly written to tell his story. The thing is, everything does eventually come right back to him. The protagonists in this story have either come across Arthur or have had an actual relationship with him. Kirsten is only this child actress who took part in Arthur’s final production King Lear. However, for some odd reason her life seems to revolve around this man. She did not remember too much from before this new world but she remembers him. She is always looking for pictures or pieces of him in any magazines that she can find. “There were countless things about the pre-collapse world that Kirsten couldn’t remember…but she did remember Arthur Leander.” (40) She carried around pictures of him and Station Eleven the comic that Arthur had given to her.

Similar to Kirsten there is Tyler. Tyler is not only Arthurs son but he is also The Prophet. Tyler witnessed a broken marriage. He did not get to see his father all that much. But Arthur does give Tyler Station Eleven the comic book as well. This was the one thing he held most dear to him because his father gave it to him. Even after this pandemic he too carried around a version of Station Eleven the comic. “A folded piece of paper fell out of the book. It was a page torn from a copy of Dr. Eleven, Vol. I, No: I: Station Eleven.” (304) Kirsten kind of includes Arthur into her life so much that anything regarding him seemed as though it was something valuable to her. With or without realizing this comic book ends up being a character as well just like Tyler and Kirsten. Tyler let Station Eleven and religion influence him so much he became The Prophet. Without the comic book, Kirsten would not have ever been able to “defeat” Tyler.

Reflection :

I am not exactly sure where I want to go with my topic. I do however know that I want to focus on Station Eleven the comic book is of importance in this story. I also want to touch upon religion to further explain Tyler’s part in the story. I know how everyone connects in the end and it actually is important with the point I am trying to make. Not every single character in this story is important to mention for the point that I’m making but I do need to figure out how to tie in Miranda, Tyler, Arthur, Kirsten, religion and the comic book together. The quotes needed to back up my point are already highlighted. I just don’t know how to go about writing this essay. I don’t even like the temporary title.

Introduction

Humans are social creatures, its because of this we as a species survived for so long, but what happens when an event or situation causes isolation to many people? When people experience extreme isolation they start to break down mentally, start to exhibit weird behavior  Mental health is  something many people take for granted, especially when in dire need of help and in lesser cases temporary isolation brings mental epiphany of oneself. In Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel these themes of loneliness and Mental Health are touched on in varying degrees. 

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When discussing loneliness there are many examples to point to because of the situation the characters where put thru. In the very beginning of the book the character named Jeevan was left in the theater after trying to resuscitate a man.  “His phone vibrated in his pocket. He stopped to read a text message from Laura: I had a headache so I went home. Can you pick up milk? And here, all momentum left him. He could go no farther. The theater tickets had been intended as a romantic gesture, a let’s-do-something-romantic-because-all-we-do-is-fight, and she’d abandoned him there, she’d left him onstage performing CPR on a dead actor and gone home, and now she wanted him to buy milk.” (11) This quote shows the anger that this isolation brought him and also the pain of trying to be closer to someone you love being nonchalant about your efforts. Laura, Jeevan’s girlfriend temporarily isolated him, which brought him confusion, anger and shock.

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To discuss Tyler would be to discuss many of the Themes in the story and how many characters intertwine with him. ” I should have pulled her back from the edge. But it had taken everything he had to stay back from the edge himself, and what could he have done?” (261). Tyler is so lonely that he develops a disturbing obsession with the new testament. He had a absentee father and a enabling mother who did not bother give her son attention, even when it seems that he desperately needs it. He had none around him who he could call a friend or loved one who could just keep him in reality of the situation he is in.

Reflection

I will focus on the themes of loneliness and Mental Health and try to convey the connection to each other. The characters are affected differently when faced with the end of the world. With this we can accurately show how themes treated created weird and unique situations that pushed people to either contemplate life and purpose or show how damaged they have become.

Okay guys here it is, it is not perfect. I am putting ideas in, I may end up changing the title or the “argument” and keep going on with my idea. Please comment if you have any ideas and want to help. I have much more to add later on, I am still looking for more quotes.

Being human means more than just surviving. It means moving on, finding peace and happiness within yourself and coming to terms with what is what isn’t. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel has proven that being alive is not all there is to life. Surely like after an apocalypse wiping out almost an entire species, we the readers have seen how these people have come together and unified, at least some of them anyways.

After almost all humans have been wiped out of the face of the earth, there are still remnants of what would be called the old world. Technology as we knew it, is gone. No phones, no television, no electronics and no way of communicating with those around the globe. It means that it is time to move on, your girlfriend or boyfriend or wife or husband is most likely dead. They are not coming back and instead of suffering or killing yourself, why not move on? Find someone else to grow old with. Maybe have kids, try to be happy for the rest of your life. Find peace within yourself and those around you. Sometimes moving on means changing. You will not be the same person you used to be before it all happened. “What choice do I have? You know this… this time we live in, you know it forces a person to do things.” (Mandel 292). You may end up being stuck in a group, some bad influences.

Finding peace is a process , just like being happy and moving on. It is okay to remember the past. Don’t forget all the good stuff you had. Those are great memories and it is okay to hold on to them. Jeevan was starting a new career, I like to think his life was going somewhere and now it has all been changed. “He rarely thinks of his life anymore, although he has dreams sometimes about a stage, an actor fallen in the shimmering snow, and other dreams where he’s pushing shopping carts through blizzards.” (Mandel 312). But not to live in the past. It is not healthy for your soul nor your mind and heart. There was a time where people did not know what would happen to them, they used to think that help was on the way. Times have changed. “In the summer of year Ten, Jeevan had married one of the settlement’s founders, a former sales assistant named Daria.” (Mandel 269). Jeevan eventually found  way of moving on, starting a family and living his life.

Introduction

When the world is collapsed by pandemic or some other disasters, the fatalities appear continuously, most of the technologies from the modern civilization such as  communication technology, convenient transportation and the internet technology all disappear after this, how is the people who were left over going to react on this? Are they going to struggle just for taking the last breath before the end of the world? Are they going to live as usual and treat that situation like a part of life for sure, continue living without pursues and slowly forget their memory of how people built up their previous civilization? Are they going to kill each other and gather the last goods and materials and make themselves survive a little longer? However, none of these were the best choice. To survive in the collapsed world was not enough, if you have a chance to survive under the disaster, there’s things that more valuable for you to do but just struggling to survive only.

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In the book, “Station Eleven” written by Emily St. John Mandel, the narrator indicated that the real attitude which people should have under the destruction of the Georgia Flu. This can be reflected by one of the main characters, Miranda which was the ex-wife of Arthur. She was always yearn for the life of the modern civilization and never ever lose hope on the life in the future, even though the scene of her death was sad but still beautiful. She always try to escape from the ordinary but she was lost on it. Through the comic book she wrote, it clearly express how was she thinking about the current world and the future world, there should a hope and attitude for continue living in the world. It indicated this more detail in the time Clark was reading her books. (332) Second is the story between Jeevan and his brother, Frank. Frank commit suicide and Jeevan had a strong chance continue living and moving forward. Here strongly indicated that to survive is not enough, Frank held an opposite side to the thought of Jeevan, Frank is the person which was more realistic and pessimistic, he would just continue living without pursues and wait for his death. However, Jeevan had a strong hope on restoring the modern civilization, he wanted to get back the modern society and continue living there, but not just straggling hard just for the survival. The suicide of Frank here indirectly  support the narrator’s point of view on the attitude of living in this collapsed world.

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Another important point which supports the narrator’s opinion was the existence of the traveling symphony and another important character, Kirsten. Not like the other people, they did not give up on hope for the future world. Even the condition was hard for them, they just keep performing the best works left from the previous human society and keep encouraging people which were blinded by the horror of the pandemic. They used some essences especially the beautiful works from Shakespeare to light up the atmosphere of hopeless in the world and take people out from the darkness. As Kirsten said, “We long only to go home, we dream of sunlight, we dream of walking on earth.” (302) What it mean here is that surviving for a short period does not make a difference from death, other than just surviving, it’s better to have the hope and work a little on it, continue living with your pursues and willing to make a change during your survival period, some people had never lost their hope on a brighter future.

Reflection

I am trying to redefine the meaning of surviving based on the story of Miranda, the Traveling symphony, Frank and Jeevan and Kirsten. First I will do some analysis on the behaviors of different characters which related to the idea of the point to survive. My central idea is going to be living but not just surviving. I will continue working on my body paragraph structure and make it more clear, straight to the point and avoid the repetition. Then I will try to analysis how the experiences of Kirsten and things did by the Traveling symphony support my opinion.

Here are my first three paragraphs of what will possibly, but not surely, be my essay for Station Eleven. 

Surviving in this world is held as a number one priority for anyone; it is why we wake up each morning/night and set off on our routines for work and/or school, which provide us with the funds to survive. But solely surviving can’t be our only tasks as evolving human beings living on such a wondrous planet with endless possibilities; we create, invent, innovate, enlighten, and inspire others. In Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel proposes a world in which modern day humans acclimate to a post-pandemic environment. With the regress of civilization in effect, Mandel presents the essence of what it truly means to survive through the actions of different protagonists like Kirsten and Clark. Mandel probes the significance behind the statement “because survival is insufficient” by instituting a newer meaning: surviving is preserving.

After the prominent fall of mankind caused by the Georgia Flu, the planet is an empty shell of abandoned structures, cars and homes. The majority of Georgia Flu survivors have maintained the mindset of simply surviving and remaining alive, while a group of former musicians, actors/actresses, and artists come together and form The Traveling Symphony in efforts to enlighten the darkness that now existed around them. “Survival is insufficient” is first seen on Mandel 58, as these three words are the prime definition of what the Symphony stands for. These people have dedicated themselves to what beauty and humanity still remained of their previous lives, keeping works of Shakespeare alive after the restart of time and life as they knew it.

The repurposing of buildings and items is very prevalent in Station Eleven, but what Clark initiates on Mandel 254 signifies his version of putting deeper meaning into the words “survival is insufficient”. With its first pieces being a seemingly useless iPhone, a couple of identification cards and an Amex, The Museum of Civilization is born and brought to life. These items were now artifacts of a historical point in time when they were held to high value. “He stood by the case and found himself moved by every object he saw there, by the human enterprise each object had required”, (Mandel 255).

Reflection:

I am not one to plan an essay out for weeks ahead, and I am still contemplating changing my thesis and title as well. My body paragraphs will be much fuller once I work on my actual essay but I don’t think its fair for an “outline” to be perfect. My second idea aside from providing pieces from the novel that show how surviving is insufficient, was to make this essay about how loss institutes new and innovative beginnings, or how loss gives survival a new definition. Aside from my indecisiveness, this draft is subject to change completely and I am still trying to find a thesis I can stick with and pull multiple pieces of evidence from the text for.

Introduction:

The word Survival can mean many things to many people. In Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel, surviving was not equal to living. That surviving was some how less than living. With this Idea in mind one would have to ask; What does it means to survive Isn’t living, alone, proves one’s survival or is there is more to it? In Station Eleven, we are lead to believe that there is more to living than survival. That just merely surviving isn’t living.

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Station Eleven’s story is all about doing more than just surviving. One of characters, Kirsten, have the words “Survival is insufficient…tattooed on her left forearm” (120). The traveling Symphony have words on their lead van that say “Because survival is insufficient” (58).The meaning of these words are part of the theme and tone that is set through out the book.Which helps us, the readers, to understand why some of the characters held on to some of the things that they use to help them live in the new world that surrounds them. For, example, the Traveling Symphony and Shakespeare’s play.

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The Traveling Symphony were a group of actors and musicians who migrates from town to town to put on shows by acting out Shakespeare’s plays. They do this to give the the town’s people something good from the past. Because of the Traveling Symphony moving from town to town, it seems,that the ability to be able to entertain others and to travel is more important than to just live. By, holding on to the theater arts, it has giving Kirsten and the rest of the traveling group a reason to live. Acting gives them something else to think about instead of being constantly focus on all that was taken away from them 20 years ago.

Reflection

I am just starting out with this essay. I am currently making an outline to help me along with this essay. I am thinking and re-thinking about the title and thesis for this essay, wondering if I should change anything. It has been awhile since my last English class to this one, so I am a little rusty on writing a well written essay. I am nervous and willing to see this through.