Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Station Eleven, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Death and Survival
Faith and Fate
Civilization
Memory
Art
Summary
Analysis
When Sayid, August, and Kirsten walk away from the bodies, the prophet’s dog follows them. They stop to rest and Kirsten calls for Luli, and the dog approaches and stays by her side. A little while later, they find the airport. They meet sentries with crossbows, but one of them comes running towards them in joy.
Luli, whose name first indicated the strange connection of the Prophet to Kirsten, follows the group and apparently needs a new master. When they reach the airport, one of the armed sentries comes running since she recognizes her friends from the Symphony.
Themes
There are 320 people living in the airport, making it one of the largest settlements Kirsten has seen. August takes Sayid to the infirmary, and Kirsten lies down in Charlie’s tent. The two friends discuss Kirsten’s need of a new knife tattoo, Dieter’s death, and an eerie memory of Charlie having an almost supernatural moment in the nursery of a home they were ransacking.
Finally, Kirsten and Charlie reunite. Reflecting on death, they remember an almost supernatural occurrence, which speaks to the strain of the losses and the difficulty of taking a life.
Themes
That night, August, Charlie, and the sixth guitar play music, during which Kirsten’s thoughts drift between the friends she’s lost, the people she’s killed, and the strange coincidence of meeting someone else with “Station Eleven” comic books.
While the reunited musicians perform, Kirsten continues to reflect on death, loss, killing, and the strange connection with the prophet she still doesn’t quite understand.
Themes
Later, she meets Clark Thompson, who recognizes her as Kirsten Raymond. They have apparently been introduced before. Clark says he knows Kirsten is tired, but he wants to show her something. Slowly, they make their way to and then up the air traffic control tower. Clark tells Kirsten he read her interview in the newspaper from New Petoskey and wants to talk about it with her in the morning. Once at the top of the tower, Kirsten looks through a telescope in disbelief. In the distance, she can see pinpricks of light aligned into a grid. Many miles away, there is a town whose streets are lit up with electricity.
Clark, who knows who Kirsten is and can explain who the prophet is as well, choses first to show Kirsten a sign of hope that civilization is being rebuilt: a town in the distance with electricity. As the novel draws towards a close, there is a sense of promise and a (literal) light in the distance, suggesting that humanity is still on an upward progressing path, even if it was shaken off course or into a new era by the emergence of the Georgia Flu.
Themes
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