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
The Traveling Symphony leaves the airport after a five-week stay of performing and resting. Kirsten has given one of her “Dr. Eleven” comics books to Clark to keep in the Museum of Civilization, so that if something happens to hers, there will still be a safe one. The Symphony plans on establishing new territory.
Similar to the hope provided by the town with electricity, the Symphony’s plans to expand their territory help end the novel on a positive note in which the future is full of exciting possibilities. There is some risk in this new plan, so Kirsten gives a copy of “Dr. Eleven” to Clark to preserve in the Museum of Civilization.
Themes
In the evening after the Symphony has left, Clark finishes cleaning the Museum of Civilization and sits down to read the adventures of Dr. Eleven. He stops at a scene of a dinner party on Station Eleven because it is so familiar. A woman reminisces about Earth and mentions spending time in “Praha,” and Clark begins to cry, remembering that he was at that dinner party. He remembers the pretentious woman, and notices a figure in the comic with a passing resemblance to himself. There is a woman that is clearly Elizabeth Colton, and a man that looks a little bit like Arthur. Miranda is replaced by Dr. Eleven.
When Clark reads the comics, he notices a familiar scene: a dinner party on Station Eleven that echoes the awkward party at which he met Miranda. Thus he comes to realize who created the comics, and he grasps the full coincidence and spread of influence from person to person, as Miranda and Arthur have both had a profound impact on Kirsten, Tyler, and Clark himself. Dr. Eleven, we see, is an analogue for Miranda in the comics.
Themes
In the comic book, Dr. Eleven has his arms crossed, lost in thought. Clark remembers the dinner party in vivid detail and wonders what ever happened to Miranda. He looks up at the tarmac and the airplanes that have been grounded for two decades. He doesn’t expect to see planes fly again in his lifetime, but thinks that if there are newspapers and towns with electricity, then perhaps vessels are setting out somewhere. He wonders about the countries on the other side of the world and what happened to them, and takes comfort in the idea that maybe, there are ships moving across the water toward another world.
While the comics provided fantastical escapes for Kirsten and Tyler, for Clark they spark vivid memories of civilization and his life before the collapse. Turning from the comic to the world in Year Twenty, Clark, like the novel itself, reflects with hope that perhaps civilization is slowly being rebuilt, and humans are indeed moving forward on some sort of progressive pathway. He takes comfort in the notion that maybe, somewhere in the world, people are moving and humanity is blossoming once again.
Themes
