The Behavior Of Tyler And Kirsten Within Station Eleven

Our parents are the first people we meet in this world. They are one of the biggest influences on our life, spending the most time with us. This being said oftentimes they also have the biggest negative impact on their child’s lives as well. Be it through mental health struggles, negligence, abuse, and much more they cause their children long term negative consequences. These take many forms but ultimately all end up being some form of mental struggle. This is extremely apparent within the world of Station Eleven but more specifically when referring to Kirsten Raymonde, and Tyler Leander. Their parental figures combined with the pandemic generated really unique adult characters. The behavior of Tyler and Kirsten within Station Eleven can be

In fact two of the main characters in the story have a parent (or both) missing. Both Tyler, and Kirsten were subject to parental absence. Tyler with the absence of his father in his life. Kirsten, with the absence of her parents post-pandemic. As stated by a Valparaiso University Study “The primary role of parents in the family environment is to prepare children for adulthood through rules, discipline, and support”(Dishion 3). This leads me to wonder about the effects that absentee parents have on their kids' development. Without a parental figure or without both parental figures it is up to the children to parent themselves without the “...rules, discipline, and support” that is supposed to be provided to them by their parents. So what effect does the lack of these traits have on a child's development? This question is answered by a UMASS Amherst study where it is stated “Previous research has suggested that long term separation, from parents or parent, has the following adverse effects: depression, loneliness, anxiety, anger, behavioral problems at school, low academic achievement motivation, lack of self-esteem, misbehavior, truancy, and stealing.”(He 1). First I want to analyze Kirsten for the stated symptoms above. Kirsten’s parents were absent in her life from the time that Arthur died to 20 years post in the future. So from ages 8-28 she had neither parental figure in her life. Kirsten shows signs of loneliness, and stealing. Kirsten spends a lot of time alone, and separated from her loved ones. Her parents were supposed to be there accompanying her but all she had accompanying her was an acute sense of loneliness. She states “Hell is the absence of the people you long for.”(Mandel 134). This quote establishes the precedent that Kirsten longs for the connections that she lost out on. Additionally this can be applied to a lot of