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Juxtaposition In Station Eleven

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In the novel Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel creates a parallel between a pre-apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic world affected by the nation-sweeping epidemic: The Georgia Flu. This dystopian world opens up the conversation about the following unresolved dilemmas: displacement, disorientation, dislocation, alienation, and memory. Each of the main characters faces a certain level of uncertainty while fighting for survival, evidently affecting them mentally, emotionally and physically. For this reason, some readers may question Mandel's choice to have her characters continue suffering from their inner turmoils. Arguably, this stylistic choice presents juxtaposition between the hope of changing your entire outlook on life and the reality …show more content…

After the collapse, devices and technologies that had come to seem mundane are suddenly desired and Perez 3 fantasized over. So much so, that a museum is made to honor and preserve such technologies. With a world without technology- people are physically cut off from each other, unable to know what is going on in the world at large or even in the next town over. Mandel plays with the realization that humanity took devices for granted that allowed for medicine and food to be easily accessible. Below is an excerpt illustrating the effects of technology disappearing in it entirety: You walk into a room and flip a switch and the room fills with light. You leave your garbage in bags on the curbside, and a truck comes and transports it to some invisible place. When you're in danger, you call for the police. Hot water pours from faucets. Lift a receiver or press a button on a telephone, and you can speak to anyone. All the information in the world is on the Internet, and the Internet is all around you, drifting through the air like pollen on a summer breeze. There is money, slips of paper that can …show more content…

Mandel makes a point to emphasize that even while our civilization has produced amazing technology, it is not just technology that makes civilization—it’s people. Technology may be one of the reasons why civilization collapsed, but the novel makes it clear that life continues without it. Towns slowly emerge out of the chaos, and a Travelling Symphony wonders from town to town, bringing art and culture that has endured the test of time. One of the most notable members of the symphony is twenty-something-year-old Kristen Raymonde, who in her childhood starred in the very show Leander died of a stroke. Groups form with different ideologies. The post-collapse world is tenuous and dangerous, and the people in it can do terrible things, but they can also love, and build connections, and use their ingenuity, and create art. Kristen's character recalls: WHAT WAS LOST IN THE COLLAPSE: almost everything, almost everyone, but there is still such beauty. Twilight in the altered world, a performance of A

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