The Restrictions of an Empty World

The Restrictions of an Empty World

Station Eleven, written by Emily St. John Mandel, opens with the death of an actor during his performance; suddenly, all hell breaks loose. Station Eleven is a novel about a group of actors called The Traveling Symphony, who perform Shakespeare’s plays and music for those who still remain after a flu pandemic, which wiped out ninety-nine percent of the population. This novel takes place 15 years following the flu pandemic, but civilization is nowhere near the same as it once was. Mandel chooses to focus on the new society and culture that forms 15-20 years after the pandemic hit, going in depth about the characters’ lives and illustrating the differences between the world they live in now versus how it used to be. With close to nothing left including borders, police, and other necessities, the characters seem to have the world to themselves; however, its appears that they are even more restricted than before the pandemic stuck.

The novel focuses on The Traveling Symphony, giving us background information about each of the members and often flashbacks of life before the Georgia flu pandemic. The symphony travels from town to town avoiding the dooms-day cults in fear of being killed, while attempting to restore civilization to the way it was prior to the breakout. Throughout the novel the characters seem to grow more and more comfortable with the post-pandemic world, which allows the reader to believe that they are getting closer to the rebuilding stage.

If ninety-nine percent of the population was wiped out, one may think that those who remain would be able to roam free, be unbothered, and live nothing other than a lonely life. In Station Eleven, life following the pandemic is the complete opposite. The characters in this novel live with even more restriction on their life than before the pandemic. Other than having communication, travel, food, medicine, and many other necessities restricted, the characters are also restricted to where they can and cannot go in fear of being harmed. Many times in the novel, The Traveling Symphony is forced to make decisions about where to travel based on the fear of being killed if they weren’t considered “welcome” in one of the survivor towns. At one point the symphony is trying to decide where to travel next, when the conductor suggests a route, there is almost always a horrifying response. “A town that had been known to shoot outsiders on sight” (Mandel 65), even in a world occupied by so few people, there are still restrictions on how they choose to live. Not only are the characters restricted to where they travel, but also how they travel. As gasoline quickly expired following the pandemic, those who remain are forced to walk or use a horse-drawn carriage as way of transportation.  Without cars or planes, the characters face restrictions yet again – making their life even more difficult.

With close to nothing left, how could such an enormous area seem so limited and restricted? Station Eleven is an incredible novel that will draw you in within the first couple of pages, and wont let you go until the very last. Emily St. John Mandel feeds your imagination with her writing. The possible reality that this novel was written about provides for an intense read; it makes the reader question his or her own feelings toward the subject and consider how they may react differently. Overall, Station Eleven is a wonderful dystopian fiction book that includes aspects that other books of this genre often overlook.