Memory In Emily St. John Mandel's Station Eleven

Memory affects the way people think and what they do after an epidemic. In the novel Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel, memory plays an important role for Kirsten, Clark, and François. These three characters all create and collect to live in their memories; Kirsten gets tattoos and Clark makes a museum, while François creates a library and publishes newspapers.

Kirsten Raymonde, an actress who has seen death right before her eyes multiple times, gets tattoos to remember what she did. The first death she saw in front of her was on stage before the collapse. She was close to a very famous actor who died while acting on stage. She never killed before the collapse, but then killing became inevitable after the collapse to survive. “She was

It is called the Museum of Civilization, and it is located inside an airport outside Severn City. His museum later became famous in the world after the collapse. Some characters think that it is just a rumor but the museum exists in real life. “‘I thought the Museum of Civilization was a rumor,’ August said” (124). The museum was mentioned several times by different characters and people in year fifteen would go there to look at the past after their long days of work. It became famous, but some people wouldn’t go there because the Prophet was from the museum. Clark created the museum when he was thinking of his boyfriend, Robert, while looking out at a line of planes in the Skymiles Lounge of the airport. “If Robert were here--Christ, if only--if Robert were here, he’d probably fill the shelves with artifacts and start an impromptu museum” (254). He puts things that are no longer useful from the old world into shelves that had glass display cases. At first, he just laid the objects side by side under the glass. He didn’t tell anyone about the museum but someone added an iPhone, heels, and a snow globe there next to the objects he set up. That is the beginning of the Museum of Civilization. Over time, he would spend a lot of time in this museum of his and show people around answering questions that they had about certain artifacts. He loves his museum and would dust his beloved objects. He wants to remember what the world was like and what they had before flu