August Character Analysis in Station Eleven

August is one of Kirsten’s closet friends in the Traveling Symphony. He is the second violin and has only recently begun acting with the Symphony. He also writes poetry in secret. The child of military parents, August moved around often in the pre-collapse world, and television had been a constant in his life. He therefore misses television terribly and remembers shows in great detail, and he collects TV Guides after the collapse. He and Kirsten break into houses together, and the two have a pact to remain only friends and nothing more.

August Quotes in Station Eleven

The Station Eleven quotes below are all either spoken by August or refer to August. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

). Note: all page numbers and citation info for the quotes below refer to the Vintage edition of Station Eleven published in 2015.

"If you are the light, if your enemies are darkness, then there's nothing that you cannot justify. There's nothing you can't survive, because there's nothing that you will not do."

Related Characters: (speaker), ,

Page Number and Citation: 138

Explanation and Analysis:

“Well, it's nice that at least the celebrity gossip survived.'"

Related Characters: (speaker),

Related Symbols:

Page Number and Citation: 201

Explanation and Analysis:

August Character Timeline in Station Eleven

The timeline below shows where the character August appears in Station Eleven. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...paperback book version of the play and helps the other actors with their lines, including August, her close friend. The Symphony, which includes a troupe of actors and a group of... (full context)

Kirsten reflects on August’s habit of staring longingly at televisions when they break into houses; he misses it more... (full context)

While they wait to perform, August reflects on how intense small towns have become. Twenty years after the collapse, civilization consists... (full context)

...She tells Dieter that the line is her favorite line of text in the world. August remembers the TV episode that featured the line fondly. (full context)

...carefully make a camp and dinner. When scouts report of a school up ahead, Kirsten, August, Jackson, and the viola go to the school in hope of finding instruments or useful... (full context)

...take their turn as second watch. Dieter and Sayid scout the road behind the camp, August and Kirsten keep watch of the camp, and the fourth guitar and oboe walk ahead.... (full context)

After more travel, Kirsten says to August that she thinks Sayid and Dieter have been taken. She can’t stop thinking about what... (full context)

Since they are both terrified, August writes Kirsten a small poem to comfort her. As the Symphony moves onward, fallen trees... (full context)

As they walk on their second say without the Symphony, Kirsten and August come across a gas station. They look around and a dog barks, and a man... (full context)

...passing through, and that he left once the prophet took over. Finn tells Kirsten and August that Charlie and Jeremy left a few days before he did. (full context)

As Kirsten and August walk onward, they discuss the Symphony’s absence and Finn’s scar, which is the symbol of... (full context)

Back in Year Twenty, Kirsten and August leave the house they found. Kirsten can barely comprehend the idea of living in a... (full context)

...the building at that very moment, but can’t remember exactly if she saw Miranda there. August notes that the photo is from two weeks before the apocalypse, and Kirsten jokes, “At... (full context)

When the conversation turns to Sayid and Dieter, Kirsten and August get moving again. They are close to Severn City now, but they decide they don’t... (full context)

Three days after Kirsten and August are separated from the Symphony, Kirsten wakes up from a nightmare. The pair decides to... (full context)

...a machete, one man carries a gun, and the other wields a bow and arrow. August whispers to Kirsten, “I have the gunman, get the archer,” and he throws a rock... (full context)

After the violence, August and Kirsten run to Sayid. He tells them that the prophet is behind them with... (full context)

...Symphony to change their route. They leave immediately, and are unable to locate Kirsten and August, who are at this point off fishing by the golf course. (full context)

...she wouldn’t have to kill a third person. She realizes based on the look of August’s face that the gunman was his first. She is too tired to tell August what... (full context)

Kirsten, August, and Sayid continue to walk in silence, wondering where the prophet is. As they walk... (full context)

...a machete, now wielding a handgun, all approach with the dog, Luli. Luli smells Kirsten, August, and Sayid, and soon the man with the crossbow sees them. Kirsten doesn’t know what... (full context)

...felled by one of the four attackers. She hopes that they don’t find Sayid and August, as the prophet approaches her. He calls her “Titania,” recognizing her from the production of... (full context)

While the prophet’s rifle is an inch from her forehead, Kirsten knows what August must be thinking. If he reveals himself to fire arrows, the three of them would... (full context)

...boy’s handgun. The boy has shot the prophet in the head. In the instant after, August kills the other two men, while Kirsten and the boy stare at the prophet. Though... (full context)

Later, August discovers a page from “Station Eleven” in the copy of the prophet’s New Testament. Kirsten... (full context)

When Sayid, August, and Kirsten walk away from the bodies, the prophet’s dog follows them. They stop to... (full context)

...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... (full context)

That night, August, Charlie, and the sixth guitar play music, during which Kirsten’s thoughts drift between the friends... (full context)

Kirsten stares through the telescope at the town with electric light, while Charlie and August make Sayid smile in his infirmary bed (in baggage claim). A thousand miles south of... (full context)