Blog Journal for Station Eleven

"No more flight. No more towns glimpsed from the sky through airplane windows, points of glimmering light; no more looking down from thirty thousand feet and imagining the lives lit up by those lights at that moment" (Mandel 31)

I chose this passage because it really puts into perspective some things in life we take for granted. Flying has become such a commonplace idea, but when you think about it, it is so incredibly advanced that we, as simple people, have found a way to see our world from the sky. We think about the apocalypse as a concept often, but it is so difficult to grasp every little thing that would change in our world.

"Standing outside with seven enormous shopping carts to transport through the snow to his brother's apartment, soaked in sweat and also freezing, feeling foolish and afraid and a little crazy, Hua at the edge of every thought" (Mandel 25).

I chose this passage because I think it is a very accurate description of what might go through someone's head when it has just been thrown on them to prepare for the apocalypse. Jeeven feels foolish because no one else believes in the apocalypse and he might be all wrong, but afraid because he knows deep down he's not wrong. At the forefront of his mind are his loved ones, not himself, and I think that is the simplest way to show his completely selfless, loving nature that we see later in the novel.

1. In what ways was your life also impacted by the Covid pandemic? - I grew as a person over the Covid pandemic in ways I can't even put my finger on. I think about the person I was before the pandemic and the person I am now, and am astounded that those two minds are even in the same body. I know the before and the after, but I can't even remember or fathom the inbetween. I became more withdrawn, but not lonely, just more comfortable with being alone.

Had this pandemic been as bad as the Georgian Flu described in the novel, what do you think you would have missed most from your old life? - I think the most, I would have missed my friends. A lot of people say that the idea of having the people you're meant to be with the rest of your life in a place as miniscule as your hometown in the grand scheme of things is crazy, but I don't doubt it with my friends. I don't think I would be even close to the same person I am today without them.

2. What have we are beginning to learn about Arthur since his death through other characters? - He was a very famous actor and had been a part of multiple marriages. His best friend is named Clark and from his college and his lawyer had only met him once. One of his ex-wives, Miranda, works in logistics and is not big in the celebrity scene. From her reaction to his death, it seems like she and him were very much in love, or they were both incredibly important to eachother.

Discuss the foreshadowing in this line: “This was during the final month of the era when it was possible to press a series of buttons on a telephone and speak with someone on the far side of the earth.” - Overseas contact would diminish completely after the apocalypse, along with, I'm sure, many other aspects of modern human life. This is the beginning of a new era and a new way of life, civilization will have to be reborn again.