Essay: Uncovering the Significance of Art in Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven

Humanity in Art, A Key to Survival in Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven
In Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven, art is highly important throughout the novel, being a base of survival while the world is falling apart. The novel’s epigraph introduces the theme of the importance of art with a short poem that makes the end of the world seem beautiful, while crediting Czeslaw Milosz ‘s novel The Separate Notebooks. Station Eleven begins with the opening scene of Shakespeare’s King Lear, one of the many Shakespeare plays that have an integral part in keeping the sanity of the characters of Station Eleven, and to ensure that they aren’t just surviving, but living. Many passages highlight the way performing makes the Station Eleven characters feel, and how it is an escape from the harsh reality that is the end of the world. The significance of art is not only in its beauty but the way it makes the audience feel in the novel and how some forms of it can be very manipulative during these times. Art within the novel was alive before the collapse, during the collapse, and will continue after the collapse; the prevalence of art symbolizes how life will go on for the characters of Station Eleven. Art in the post-apocalyptic Station Eleven provides a sense of belonging, self-expression and makes for a tolerable life when everything seems so grim.
In the epigraph, the poem taken from Czeslaw Milosz’s The Separate Notebooks, is a piece of art itself. Instead of having the very dark, terrifying stereotype of the end of the world, Milosz makes it sound beautiful. The use of language supports the theme that art is key to a beautiful life, even in its darkest hour, “The bright side of the planet moves towards darkness. And the cities are falling asleep, each in its hour….” (Czeslaw Milosz). The way he describes the cities as just falling asleep doesn’t make the collapse of societies sound like something to be frightened of. Art in this form of poetry provides some sort of reassurance that not all that is beautiful is lost; it is just a different way to view the world. A passage in the novel supports the idea that the world can still be beautiful, “What was lost in the collapse: almost everything, almost everyone, but there is still such beauty.” (57). This relates to the way characters in the Station Eleven novel see the world and how they find beauty in the little things. They do not see the collapsed cities, or disappearing communities, when they are living through their art.
The significance of Shakespeare and the performances of his plays are introduced from the beginning of the novel. Society during the time of King Lear, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream has many similarities to Station Eleven in the way that plague infects villages during the Shakespearean era, the Georgia Flu affects society in Station Eleven, and quarrel between lovers in the play reflects the modern day Kirsten and Sayid. Through all of this conflict, art is something that survives in both societies. Art for one of the main characters Arthur Leander is a way of life up until his death during the opening scene of Shakespeare’s King Lear. Throughout the novel, art is always surrounded by death. It is kept alive by the Travelling Symphony who sees art as a crucial part of life, as stated in a passage, “All three caravans of the Travelling Symphony are labeled as such, The Travelling Symphony lettered in white on both sides, but the lead caravan carries an additional line of text: Because survival is insufficient.” (58). Not only does art establish the feeling of really living; it also highlights how beauty can be found in the simplest things such as “ A Midsummer Night’s Dream in a parking lot”, or “Kirsten as Titania, a crown of flowers on her close cropped hair, the jagged scar on her cheekbone….” (57). In the novel, Shakespeare was preferred over other works of art, Dieter says, “People want what was best about the world.” (38). Instead of living in the grim present world, it is easier to live in the beautiful world that is Shakespeare.
Not only is art a way of escaping reality for its creators and performers, but it also affects the audience and gives them a sense of living. Kirsten speaks on the way the people would react when The Symphony came through town, and the excitement they provided, “ In Transverse City the crowd following them down the street upon their arrival had swelled to a hundred….” (43). Clearly, it is something people look forward to during the collapse. Although art is beautiful and uplifting to some, it can also be very manipulative for others. Tyler Leander, otherwise known as The Prophet, is an example of how art can be used to manipulate. He gains many followers and soon has a whole community of believers. These people are just trying to find an explanation for the collapse, and a will to live, and Tyler provides this, but with a misconceived theory based on the bible, “ ‘The flu,’ the prophet said, ‘the great cleansing that we suffered twenty years ago, that flu was our flood. The light we carry within us is the ark that carried Noah and his people over the face of the terrible waters, and I submit that we were saved’—his voice was rising—‘not only to bring the light, to spread the light, but to be the light. We were saved because we are the light. We are the pure.’ ” (60). Art is a saving grace in many ways, yet not when it is in the hands of the wrong person.
Throughout the novel, art survives and symbolizes how life always goes on, from the Shakespearean era before the collapse, the performance of his plays during the collapse, and the museum in the Severn City airport that features physical art left of society from the collapse. These works of art live through the past, the present, and will continue on in the future. It is a way to connect to the past, and to understand a different world, and for a human connection for when that world is gone. In the novel Elizabeth speaks to Clark during the initial shock of the collapse, “I’ve been taking art history classes on and off for years, between projects. And of course art history is always pressed up close against non-art history, you see catastrophe after catastrophe, terrible things, all these moments when everyone must have thought the world was ending, but all those moments, they were all temporary. It always passes.” (248). Life always goes on in some way; in the same way that art still thrives.
To a certain extent, art is one of the main things that makes for a beautiful life worth living in the time of the collapse, it provides a sense of belonging and self expression, not only for the creators and performers but for the audiences as well. First introduced in the epigraph as a beautiful way to view the end of the world in a short poem by Czeslaw Milosz, this idea further develops in the text as well. Through the use of Shakespeare and his plays as a type of therapy to escape the harsh reality of the collapse and as a different way to view the world in a more beautiful sense. The longevity of art within Station Eleven symbolizes how life will always go on, and provide strength to a society and its inhabitants throughout even the most difficult times.