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Station Eleven Presentation
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Theme Analysis
Station Eleven
SUMMARY
Station Eleven, written by Emily St. John Mandel, is a science-fiction novel set in present-day. It follows the lives of several different characters as a flu pandemic erupts and the world is left in shambles.
PLOT/CONFLICT
PLOT/CONFLICT
The story opens with the heart attack and death of Arthur Leander on the stage of a theater in Toronto, Canada. Jeevan, a man in the audience training to be a paramedic, attempts CPR, but he is too late. That same night, the Georgia Flu is brought to North America by a plane from Moscow, and the known world collapses. Twenty years in the future, Kirsten Raymonde is a part of the Traveling Symphony, a group of musicians and actors who go from town to town and perform. At a village where they stop to perform they encounter a prophet, who has taken over and terrorized its inhabitants as members of the Symphony begin to go missing. The book jumps from year to year as each character's story is revealed and human nature is exposed in the face of disaster.
CHARACTERS
CHARACTERS
- Kirsten: protagonist, 8 years old upon the collapse, actress in Traveling Symphony
- Jeevan: ex-paparazzo and journalist, trained to be a paramedic before the collapse
- Arthur: well-known actor, dies from heart attack while performing onstage
- Miranda: Arthur's first ex-wife, dies on beach in Malaysia to the flu, created Station Eleven comic books
- Prophet/Tyler: antagonist, son of Arthur and his second ex-wife, around Kirsten's age upon the collapse, stuck at Severn City Airport, leaves with a cult and eventually starts his own
- Clark: friend of Arthur's, stuck at Severn City Airport during the collapse where he starts the Museum of Civilization
LITERARY DEVICES
The author uses many literary devices throughout this novel, including plot sequence, juxtaposition, and foreshadowing.
FAVORITE PASSAGE
"I stood looking over my damaged home and tried to forget the sweetness of life on Earth." (Mandel 42)
WORKS CITED
Works Cited
Mandel, Emily St John. Station Eleven. Gale, 2015.
THEME
"Survival is insufficient." (Mandel 58)
LITERARY DEVICE #1
DEVICE #1
One of the literary devices used by the author to convey the theme is figurative language, specifically metaphors.
EXAMPLE #1
EXAMPLE 1
"'Hell is other people.'" (Mandel 48)
"Hell is the absence of the people you long for." (Mandel 144)
EXAMPLE #2
EXAMPLE 2
"'Guys like Dan, they're like sleepwalkers,' she said, 'and nothing ever jolts them awake.' ... Because he had been sleepwalking, Clark realized, moving half-asleep through the motions of his life." (Mandel 164)
LITERARY DEVICE #2
DEVICE #2
Another literary device used by the author to convey the theme is symbolism, or the use of symbols to represent ideas.
EXAMPLE #1
EXAMPLE 1
Throughout the story, an airplane is used several times to symbolize their relationship with the past civilization, including the collapse and their connection with others.
EXAMPLE #2
EXAMPLE 2
The performing arts are used throughout this novel to symbolize the luxury of momentary escape in a devastated world.