The Peace And Loss Found In Oblivion Sparknotes

Bella Kaufman

Summer 2023

Joel Barlow

The Peace and Loss Found in Oblivion Memory is one of the most influential aspects of the human brain. It alters one's life perspective and affects their every decision. Whether aware of it or not, the brain compares past memories and situations to help navigate every decision throughout one's life. With this amount of thought subconsciously attached to every action, it’s hard to imagine that the ability to just completely forget a chapter of one’s life is even possible. This ability to just shut out things is most commonly the brain's defensive response to extreme trauma called dissociative amnesia. Besides being such a remarkable tactic of protection, dissociative amnesia can provide much peace to those

After both of her parents died, she set out at eight years old with her older brother to see what was left of the world. Throughout their years on the road, Kirsten was introduced to a level of evil so foreign to a little girl, that her brain shut it out. Shielded from the memory of the trauma she endured this year, Kirsten was able to put all of this pain from the past to rest because she found the peace of closure in the unknown. Many characters in Station 11 hold onto their remembrance of the past so dearly, painfully moving away from this time as the years go on. Eventually some begin to wonder, are these memories worth the pain they undermine? By not having a choice, we can see that Kirsten is one of the characters most at peace with the state of the world, no memories holding her back from accepting her new life. “The more you remember, the more you’ve lost” (Mandel 195). It's a very uncomfortable thing for us as humans to have to accept what we’ve lost. However, Kirsten is able to master the new way of living and makes the most out of it because she holds no ties to the

When Kirsten and August were separated from the symphony, their reactions showed proof of this. Even though Kirsten was able to move past trauma, it still impacted her as a person, leaving her with something visibly adjacent to abandonment issues. Confirmation of this arises as Kirsten was particularly troubled mentally during the first night she was parted from the symphony, even with August right by her side. “Kirsten slept fitfully, aware each time she woke of the emptiness of the landscape, the lack of people and animals and caravans around her. Hell is the absence of people you long for” (Mandel 144). Through the use of the word “fitfully”, it is clear that the desolation surrounding Kirsten is troubling her more than normal. She is overly evaluating the situation's depth, and once again, letting this abiding feeling of loss control