1.
Survival is Insufficient: This a recurring quote and theme in the book. Analyze this theme it. What does it mean? What, according to the book, makes life sufficient enough to live beyond mere survival? Likewise, what is worth living for and what is worth dying for?
Suggestions:
- Look at the importance of art in the characters' lives. (For example: the Bible, The graphic novel Station Eleven and Shakespeare's plays, particularly King Lear.)
- Look at the importance of relationships in the characters lives.
2.
Pre-Pandemic vs. Post Pandemic Values: Compare and contrast how values and morals shift in
Station Eleven from the pre-collapse world to the post- collapse world.
Suggestions:
- What are actions that Kirsten Raymonde to survive that
- What about the values in the Traveling Symphony? How are they different/similar to other post pandemic communities?
- Is there a common set of values that humanity embodies in spite of outside events?
3.
Civilization: Consider the Museum of Civilization. According to the book, what are the hallmarks of civilization?
Suggestions:
- We often think of technology as emblematic of civilization. But, do laptops and credit cards represent what it means to be civilized?
- If not, what are the hallmarks of civilization?
- Which is more civilized: life pre-pandemic or post-pandemic? Why?
