Blog Deep Dive into Station Eleven

 

1. CONTINUE READER’S JOURNAL FOR STATION ELEVEN, READING SECTIONS 5-6 (CHAPTERS 27-41) AND PULL TWO PASSAGES.

“Always. Yes. When she traveled, she carried a sketchbook in her luggage, for the times when she was alone in hotel rooms at night. The focus of the work had gradually shifted. For a year’s Doctor 11 had been the hero of the narrative, but lately he began to annoy her, and she became more interested in the undersea. These people living out there lives in underwater, fallout shelters, clinging to the hope that the world they remembered could be restored. The undersea was limbo. She’s spent long hours sketching Lives played out in underground rooms.” (Mandel 213)

I chose this passage because it shows who she had become as an author. The first character she had written about may have started out as her favorite character, later becoming one that she dreads and there has to be a reason. Whether it is because she has spent too much time with the character, or she is as a writer has changed, there are many reasons it may have changed. I wonder if and how her divorce has shaped her as a writer and how her style may have changed over the years. I wonder how the plot has changed, how the characters have changed. A major life event like a divorce changes someone in major ways and emotions are often reflected in an artists’ work and would love to know how it has shaped her. 

“He had re-watched all of Arthur’s movies over the previous two days, and had done substantial additional research. But Arthur did not want to talk about the movie he was shooting, or his training, or influences, or what drove him as an artist, or whether he’s still saw himself as an outsider, as he’d said in one of his first interviews some years back. He responded in Monosyllables to the first three questions. He seemed dazed and hung over. He looked like he hadn’t slept well in some time.” (Mandel 168)

I think it is interesting, but understandable how disinterested Arthur was acting in this interview. I feel like all celebrities would probably get so  sick of answering the same boring question asked by different journalists daily. I wonder if Arthur gages interviews from how they initially start the conversation, I think that the way Jeevan approaches Arthur may have changed the way that Arthur chose to react to the questions because after this he seems more willing to have an actual conversation.

 

2. VIEW THE UPDATED UTOPIA PROJECT DOCUMENT FOUND ON THE COURSE CONTENT FOR WEEK FIFTEEN AND THE WELCOME PAGE. Based on this and last week’s brainstorm, what do you think you’ll write about? What do you think might cause the dystopia to happen in your world?

I think I am going to write about a world after crazy lightning storms were going crazy across the globe starting thousands of wildfires and burning most of the world as we know it to the ground. I picture the world being hot and hard to live in as everything is destroyed and billions of people are killed either due to starvation or the weather. 

3. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. In section five Jeevan’s story returns. (Yes, to Jeevan!) We see him in the high tower apartment with his brother as the world descends into chaos. Later on the road, what does he realize in order to keep going after his brother Frank’s death?

He realizes that everything is extremely dangerous and nothing is going to get better or change. He finds out that everything at this point is anarchy and everyone is literally fighting for their lives. There is no way his brother would have survived and if he did there isn't much to live for anyways. 

2. Is memory solely a source of strength and comfort in the novel? Or is there another side? What do you think Mandel is saying about the role of memory not just in the novel but in our own lives?

Memory is just a meaning that you went through more pain and suffering. I think that memory is so twisted for everyone that no one really fully remembers what was factual or what has been changed and affected by stories they had heard from others that they have tricked themselves into thinking they remember. 

3. Section Six is all about airplanes (chapters 38-41) in a variety of different ways. What roles do airplanes play in these chapters?

Airplanes are shown as a way the profit has naked people and left them with scars. Also after Author's death, travel was slowly fizzling  out and becoming impossible. People trying to travel for his funeral some couldn't, some questioned why they even would with this flu going around. They became breeding grounds for the flu and eventually there was no one flying and no gas to even get them into the sky if they were to fly.