As we reflect on life before COVID-19, some of us may feel a sense of nostalgia for “the good old days,” or those days where life seemed normal. We mourn what we have lost and how life has changed. We miss going to parties and events and being near people. We long for that feeling of excitement right before a concert starts and the band walks out to play the first note. We wish we could go back to the days where we could go to a baseball or football game and cheer in the stands with fellow fans. It is the simple things that we tend to miss once they are gone. In contrast, some of us may simply want to move on from COVID-19 and keep pressing forward. We take what we have been given and adapt to our situation.
We see characters in Station 11 also fall between these two different states as they continue to live in the aftermath of their own apocalypse. Some characters mourn the old days while others want to forget about them. In the airport terminal, the survivors have created a museum of old technology, papers, and other items. Museums are like collections of relics from the past that take people back in time. The survivors use the museum to dwell on the nostalgia that comes from the past. These items remind them what they have lost and can’t get back.
In the novel, the character Jeevan “rarely thinks of his old life anymore” (312). He has crafted a new life beyond the apocalypse, and he left his old life behind. In Jeevan’s village, some people are starting to wonder if they should just forget the old ways of life. As the character Michael says, “I found myself thinking, maybe it’s time we stopped telling them these crazy stories. Maybe it’s time we let go” (270). Michael and other characters in the village want to forget about the past because the memories associated with the past is too painful to keep remembering. In the face of the aftermath of an apocalypse, some people just want to forget about what life was like before.
It is important to note that the characters in Station 11 are living 20 years after the Georgia Flu. How will we reflect back on COVID-19 20 years from now? Some of us may be like Michael and want to let go of all the memories associated with COVID-19 and never talk about it again. Or, we may be like the survivors in the terminal and reflect back on the past to make some sort of peace with COVID-19.
What do you think? Leave your comments below.
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