Parts 4 5 and 6 from Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel show how t hings can fall apart extremely quickly, even when people try their hardest. After the girl was found stowed away in the caravans, the Symphony was at a crossroads. Should they go back and return the girl? Would it be moral since she was assigned to be the prophets next wife? They had a long standing rule of not letting strangers join or continue with them although it seems they will make an exception with the child. 

The Symphony took great care when sleeping with multiple teams of lookouts and scouts to protect themselves from danger. Even with all this added protection, Dieter, Sayid, and the clarinet player still managed to disappear. This makes me wonder if they got kidnapped, or did they possibly leave on their own will? I couldn’t really think of anything that would want to make anyone leave, unless they were tired of traveling which was mentioned. If someone had left, they would have needed a destination to go to, or they probably would not have survived. The note found from the Clarinet also made me curious on the reasons of their disappearances and if they were indeed not being hunted at all. The symphony couldn’t figure out when exactly the clarinet player had written the note. Both of the the disappearances seemed suspicious since they were both with one other person at the time. “Dear friends, I find myself immeasurably weary and I have gone to rest in the forest.” (140) The symphony perceived this as a possibly suicide note but I think if it was written recently she may have decided to leave the symphony. Since the symphony has a “separation protocol”, it is assumed that everyone will meet up at their destination, including August and Kirsten after they were separated from the symphony while fishing. Their destination ended up being the Museum of Civilization since they believe Charlie and the others went there after St. Deborah’s.

I thought Kristen and August’s reaction to entering a un-ransacked house pretty amazing. After grabbing most essentials around the house, they looked for things of interest such as poetry and Kirsten looking for Dr. Eleven. Kirsten Stated, “It was incredible. I almost wanted to lock the door behind us.” (199) I think this quote really gives the reader a quick glimpse of what they have been through since the collapse. They brought up a good point while inside of the house, the child had died in one room and the parents had both died in a separate room. 

Part 5 gave me a good glimpse of life before the collapse. Arthur seems to have used acting as almost a “crutch” when he felt uncomfortable. Jeevan and Frank (Jeevan’s brother who was paralyzed) were stockaded in Franks apartment for quite some time. During another excerpt from an interview with Kirsten, the glass paperweight with a cloud in it is mentioned again so I think it may have even more significance later on in the text.