John Mandel Station 11 Analysis

What would it be like to live in a world where technology has taken over the

One of the overall concerns regarding easily accessible technology is our dependency on it. When we take a closer look, we see an interesting dynamic: we feel a sense of isolation and danger if we are without our technology, so much so that we risk even further greater danger (literally and figuratively)

Do you think that living in a technical world would destroy society? Well, in Bradbury's novel, Fahrenheit 451, technology is very advanced and seems to get people's attention. "You're not important. You're not anything" (Bradbury 163). Fahrenheit 451 is explained as a dystopian literature. Such literature portrays an imaginary world where misguided attempts to create a utopia, or a socially and politically perfect place, results in “large scale human misery." (Critique by Michael M. Levy) This quote makes you realize that technology is taking over humans and the world has to do something about it. By creating an “utopia”, Fahrenheit 451 requires the government to take away citizen’s rights and freedoms to create the perfect society.

In Mandel’s Station 11, he envisions a time in which civilization is wiped off the face of Earth due to a flu epidemic. The book describes an area called the Museum of Civilization, which is a museum which collects things that have lost their worth since the fall of man. In the event of a collapse, the item best suited for the exhibit at the Museum of Civilization is a dusty baseball mitt. This item is a good candidate for the museum due to all of the history of baseball, which the mitt expresses. Firstly, the mitt will remind people of the pre-epidemic era in which baseball played an integral role.. In addition, the baseball mitt will act as a tool for teaching the post-collapse era children of the previous era. The baseball mitt will serve both as a educational tool and a way of remembering the past.

I never thought about what it would be like living without technology until I got assigned my summer reading project, a twenty-four hour electronic media fast. That meant absolutely no cell phone, computer, radio, television, you couldn’t even ride in a car! From the beginning I knew this would be very challenging for me considering my cell phone is glued to me at the hip and I can’t sleep without the light from a television. I know, pathetic.

Even though technology in “The Machine Stops” and technology today have many differences, many characteristics are in common. The futuristic modern technology in “The Machine Stops is very dependable as well as modern day technology, except that in “The Machine Stops” everything is machine generated. Most people today communicate on the cell phone or text messages. Frequently, people may be contacted over video messages as well. In “The Machine Stops” the most common way to communicate is by pictures or video messages with little face to face contact. Technology used in both case scenarios is very reliant for humans. For example, humans rely on the internet to look up a question if we don’t know the answer. In “The Machine Stops”, they often did not have to ask questions because the technology already did it for them. In relation to the story, they refer to when the machine stops as a “technological death”, which we can relate to the same phrase in a way that if humans did not have the access to technological works, most of our world would not be able to function. People would struggle with communication with their families, difficulties to their jobs, and wouldn’t be aware of what was happening in the world.

No matter how far you advance society, life will eventually come to an end. This theme is shown in “There Will Come Soft Rains” by Sara Teasdale when she writes,” Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree, if mankind perished utterly…” This quote is says that nature will go on, even when humanity is gone. This theme is also shown in Bradbury’s “There Will Come Soft Rains.” In this story, it is evident that technology wasn’t able to save humanity from it total demise. In “Nightmare #3,” technology was the ultimate end of humanity, and the thing that people relied on most killed them. Finally, in “By the Waters of Babylon,” the modern society in New York that was destroyed by the weapons that man created to keep themselves safe, were then used

So pretty much the society, the people, the English language are all empty. What happens to a society where there’s too much technology and everyone is lazy? Everyone becomes both dead and

“She saw ghosts of herself everywhere here. A twenty-three-year-old Miranda with the wrong clothes and her hair sticking up, washing her hands and peering anxiously at herself in the ladies room mirror; a twenty-seven-year-old recently divorced Miranda slouching across the lobby with her sunglasses in place, wishing she could disappear, in tears because she’d seen herself on a gossip website that morning and the headline was agonizing: IS ARTHUR SECRETLY CALLING MIRANDA? (Answer: no.) Those previous versions of herself were so distant now that remembering them was almost like remembering other people, acquaintances, young women who she known a long time ago, and she felt such compassion for them.” -Station Eleven, pgs. 205-206

In Station Eleven, Emily Mandel depicts a viral pandemic that kills humans leaving the world in a dystopian era. Survivors must learn to adapt new cultural techniques and live without modern technology. Throughout this amazing book Emily Mandel focus from pass to present telling stories of the main characters and their strange connections with famous film start Arthur Leander. Each Section in this book has meaning and it takes you back and makes you wonder “How would our lives change if there wasn’t technology or electricity”?

In todays writing, the author doesn’t get to design their cover art. For some that is very disappointing and even for me as well. I feel as if it takes away the power from the author. In my personal opinion, I think that the illustrator designed both the American and British cover completely opposite and I think he/she did that on purpose but as well as they are not the best illustrations to tell you what is going to happen inside the book itself. To be somewhat fair, the designer of the cover for Station Eleven did do a pretty good job at depicting the book through the illustrations on the covers. The American version of the book shows more of rural scene, depicting the vast amounts of nothingness,

Technology is ingrained in our everyday lives. People use it at work, at school, and as a form of “relaxation”. So what would happen if it was taken away? In a popular television show called Bones directed by David Boreanaz, which is about a forensic anthropologist who helps the FBI solve murder cases, there is an episode called “The Blackout in the Blizzard” where the team has to find alternate ways to catch a murderer with city wide power outages. Because this is a work of fiction they find a way to solve the case using alternative techniques. They use scotch tape in a vacuum to produce x-rays, they use dozens of potatoes to create enough electricity to power on the victim’s cell, and they use an emission spectrograph to id

Ever since the “Roaring 20’s”,its been almost unachievable to pass a even a day without using technology. Us commoners nowadays use technology for everything. From communication and education,we are constantly glued to our electronics,so that we can keep up with each other, get instant information, and all in all, get things done!Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that technology is a huge part of our lives. But what if something happened, that could make all that vital technology inaccessible? We would probably be screwed. In the novel Lord of the Flies,by William Golding, a devastating plane crash leaves a group of boys on a deserted island with nothing but their brains and the clothes on their backs.If I were ever placed in that

Civilization today has become almost completely reliant on technology. Almost the entire planet is connected by phone lines, roads, air travel, or the internet. People converse with others thousands of miles away through modern connections, watch live broadcasts of news in foreign lands, or talk on wireless phones by use of satellites. We are governed by laws designed to protect us. We live in heated homes with fresh water and electricity. We commute to work by car or mass transit. We live by rules, values, and ideals that keep the peace. Our world is organized, convenient, and technologically advanced. What would happen if suddenly our civilization

THESIS: All technology is difficult to give up, however, giving it up can allow you to live a happier and more peaceful life.