Analysis Of Survival And Death In The Novel 'Station Eleven'

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Recommended: Theme of death in literature

Amarpreet Phul
Sarah Lisha
EWRT 1A
De Anza College
December 3, 2017
Essay #3 Rough Draft Survival and Death
Kristen’s tattoo read, “Survival is insufficient.” In the beginning of the novel, Station Eleven, there is a quote, “No one ever thinks they’re awful, even people who really actually are. It’s some sort of survival mechanism” (20 Mandel). Emily St. John Mandel portrays throughout the book how survival is insufficient, a repeating statement and theme. Arthur, Kristen, Tyler, Elizabeth, Jeevan, Clark, Miranda, in the book play a main role in this theme and connect into how survival and death is one of the greatest factors in the book. The novel contends that people, to be human, must accomplish something other than survive; they should live.
Firstly, the novel starts off by Arthur having a heart attack, where death is introduced at the very beginning of the book. “Arthur’s heart wasn’t beating. Jeevan began CPR…” (4 Mandel) Arthur starts his first of the play as he falls down and believe it or not, his heart stops. Keeping in mind that Jeevan is in the process of become a paramedic panics as he goes to help out Arthur. Jeeven’s role …show more content…

In this chapter, a series of events happen from day one to day eight. This part of the book mainly focuses on survival since Tyler and Elizabeth need to call 911, but their phones are dead and the girl (Lily) at the airport needs medicine since she is very sick. They use a pay phone to call the emergency line, but no one picks up the phone. “Tyler spent his days curled in an armchair in the Skymiles Lounge, reading his comic books, reading his comic books over and over again. Elizabeth sat near his with her eyes closed, lips moving constantly, rapidly, in some repeated prayer.” (245 Mandel) This shows how being in a new world has different ways of living. Source of food, technology, and medical help is clearly hard to seek and it is only day three for

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