Flaming Up
- Alyssa Fong
- Jan 10, 2019
- 2 min read
Updated: Jan 14, 2019
The California forest fires have affected the lives of many Californians just like the Georgia Flu did to citizens in Station Eleven.
The main characters of Station Eleven experience living in the post collapse world and some like to compare their old memories to the new ones being made. Clark and Jeevan, who are old enough to remember the world before the Georgia Flu hits, like to dwell on the past and think about what it would be like to live that glorious life again. They think of their past memories and the happy times that they had living in their world. To younger citizens who’ve survived, like Kirsten, they don’t remember what happened or they remember very little. To them, the post collapse world is just their life because they have nothing to compare their living situation to. Kirsten remembers very little about the world before the collapse but is curious to know about the previous world, always asking older citizens about what they might remember.
With the California forest fires, although there is no pandemic wiping out the population of the world, it is forcing California citizens to evacuate from their houses and forcing them to find a different place to stay. Californians are forced to leave the houses that they’ve been living and probably think about the life that they previously lived like Clark and Jeevan. They dwell on the past and remember what it was like to be in one place securely. Babies and children who had to evacuate with their families will probably not remember much about the forest fires like Kirsten was with the collapse. They remember the life that they are living currently, not when they were escaping the deathly fires.
Between the forest fires and Station Eleven, these people think about the things they regret doing or not doing. They don’t realize what they could’ve done before it’s too late. They also realize that they took a lot of things, like technology, for granted and abused the use of it. These citizens never realized how much they relied on their phones and other technology items until it was taken from them. Both California citizens and the characters of Station Eleven deal with drastic changes, abruptly stopping the life that they are so used to. They have to change their routines and learn to live on an unfinished schedule.
The California wildfires that occurred just recently are an excellent comparison with the book Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. During the time of the collapse in Station Eleven many left their homes and went in search of their families. In the same case, the California wildfires have caused many families to leave their beloved homes. These are both crucial times both in fiction and in reality. Imagine what the teenagers and adults are going through. Witnessing their home and all that they loves disappear in smoke, no one would want to wish that upon anyone. Although the "Georgia Flu" in Station Eleven is purely fictional, many question whether that could happen in real life. As humans we are…
This is a very interesting connection between Station Eleven and the California forest fires. You made a good point when you mentioned that the forest fires are forcing Californians to evacuate and abandon their homes, just like Jeevan did in Station Eleven. They left everything they knew behind. The only difference is that the Californians had a place to go, and the characters in Station Eleven did not; they were left to their own devices. This demonstrates the difference between a catastrophe that only affects part of the world versus a global catastrophe that wipes out human civilization entirely. As humans, we are inclined to help others that are in need, and when tragedies such as the forest fires affect…
Good connection between Station Eleven and the California forest fires. Forest fires has been a serious issue for California for several years now and taken the lives of thousands of people. Similar to the flu in Station 11 which was more severe, it killed nearly 100 percent of the population. Tragedies like these affect people physically and mentally because they must adapt to the new world at hand. After the fires, these Californians must cope with remembering the dreadful disaster when they look outside due to all the ashes that are left on the ground. Fire is known for destroying anything in its path and is not easily controllable. When putting the two in perspective, despite the flu killing more…
You made a great connection between Station Eleven and the saddening tragedy that occured in California due to forest fires. In Station Eleven, the Georgian flu killed off 99% of the population. It was very tragic due to the fact that the people were forced to move on from this event and live in a completely different world. As you mentioned, both tragedies relate because the Georgian flu forced people to forget about the world they had before and just focus on getting used to the new world that changed so drastically. Moreover, in relation to the California wild fires, I feel empathy for the people. Although there was no deaths, the people were forced to give up their homes…