The Terrible Action In Station Eleven By Emily St. John Mandel

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The Terrible Action of The Otherwise Kind Hearted Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel shows us people who, despite the horrors they are forced to endure, remain good and kind hearted. For example Clark, despite his loss of a boyfriend and being stranded in an unknown airport far from his old life, goes on to create the museum of civilization and teach people about the past. The symphony is another example, they go from town to town performing for people and spreading news around the new isolated country. However, though some people endure and stay good, some turn to terrible acts which they would have never even considered before. Emily St. John Mandel uses The Prophet to show how otherwise normal and kind people can be driven to terrible …show more content…

Sayid is being held by a gunman and an archer and Kirstin and August are forced to kill them to rescue their friend. However as he is dying Kirsten recognises the archer as one of the people who saw the Symphony’s show at St. Deborah by the water. She says “He’d been in the audience when they’d performed A Midsummer Night’s Dream at St. Deborah by the Water, applauding in the front row at the end of the performance, smiling, his eyes wet in the candle light.”(pg.285). He was touched and moved to tears by the Symphony’s performance and showed his compassion and kindness through that one simple act. However being a part of The Prophet s group and believing in his ideals clouded his judgement and he did awful things to hold to those beliefs. He was willing to kidnap and kill innocent people and because of his newly adopted belief that everything has some greater reason behind it, he was able to justify his actions. The Prophet and his comforting belief of everything happens for a reason provided solace to the archer but also drove him to terrible things in order to hold to that …show more content…

He shows his true character in a conversation with Sayid when sayid and the clarinet were being held captive. He says to Sayid “I know it's not right, … What choice do I have? ...this time we live in, you know how it forces a person to do things.”(pg.292). He shows a whole other aspect of The Prophet and how you don't necessarily need to even believe his teachings to be forced to action be them. Even though he knows that his actions are wrong and the things he does sicken him, he has no choice but to follow along and keep doing them. The Prophet has attracted a group of followers and they have adopted his beliefs and so are able to justify anything no matter how cruel. This means that even for people who don't want to do the things The Prophet asks they have no choice, able to justify any action his followers could judge that said person had become a traitor and for “the good of the people” had to be killed. The way that other people have chosen to cope with the new world has forced the boy to adopt the same way of life. Even if he doesn't believe in what he is doing his actions are still the same as someone who does so in a way he is still the same as all The Prophet s other followers. He has been coerced into this life rather than choosing it, but his

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