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The Paperweight
Printed text is extremely important within Station Eleven. Books are highly valuable in their many different forms in the post-collapse world. Kirsten’s prized possessions are the “Dr. Eleven” graphic novels, and she maintains a collection of tabloid clippings. August collects poetry books and TV Guides to remind him of the past, and the Symphony carefully guards its copies of Shakespeare’s plays. Books symbolize knowledge, a connection with the pre-collapse world, and an escape from the horrors of the post-collapse world. For a younger generation, they are one of the only ways of connecting with the modern world they cannot remember. Books also represent an effort to build civilization back up, as the town of New Petoskey maintains a growing library and prints a newspaper. The book Dear V, which publishes Arthur’s letters to his friend Victoria, exhibits a final way that books function within the novel. This book shows the way that a publication can impact people (it is extremely painful for Arthur and damaging for his friends and acquaintances), and it shows how the printed word contributes to what is remembered and what will be forgotten.
Books Quotes in Station Eleven
The Station Eleven quotes below all refer to the symbol of Books. 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:
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Chapter 14
Quotes
"You're always half on Station Eleven," Pablo said during a fight a week or so ago, "and I don't even understand your project. What are you actually going for here?"
…
"You don't have to understand it," she said. "It's mine."
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Chapter 15
Quotes
“No one ever thinks they're awful, even people who really actually are. It's some sort of survival mechanism."
“I think this is happening because it was supposed to happen." Elizabeth speaks very softly.
"I'd prefer not to think that I'm following a script," Miranda says.
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Chapter 25
Quotes
I was thinking about the island. It seems past-tense somehow, like a dream I had once. I walk down these streets and wander in and out of parks and dance in clubs and I think "once I walked along the beach with my best friend V., once I built forts with my little brother in the forest, once all I saw were trees" and all those true things sound false, it's like a fairy tale someone told me. I stand waiting for lights to change on corners in Toronto and that whole place, the island I mean, it seems like a different planet.
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Chapter 34
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I’ve been thinking about immortality lately. … They're all immortal to me. First we only want to be seen, but once we're seen, that’s not enough anymore. After that, we want to be remembered.
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Chapter 38
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“Well, it's nice that at least the celebrity gossip survived.'"
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Get the entire Station Eleven LitChart as a printable PDF.
Books Symbol Timeline in Station Eleven
The timeline below shows where the symbol Books appears in Station Eleven. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 7
This chapter begins the second section of the book titled “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” It takes place twenty years after the outbreak of the...
(full context)
...Arthur Leander, the man she used to act alongside and who gave her the comic books that she now cherishes.
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Chapter 8
This short chapter describes the comic books given to Kirsten by Arthur. They are called “Dr. Eleven, Vol. I, No.1: Station Eleven”...
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Chapter 12
...rest and to go through her clippings which, along with water, the “Dr. Eleven” comic books, and her paperweight, she keeps in her backpack. The clippings, which she has memorized, all...
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Chapter 16
...Kirsten asks if he has ever seen any other copies of the Station Eleven comic books, which, she tells him, were given to her by Arthur Leander.
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Chapter 24
...full of new supplies, but before leaving August searches for a TV Guide or poetry book, and Kirsten looks for “Dr. Eleven” or a copy of Dear V., a book she...
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Chapter 26
...begins with Elizabeth Colton calling Clark to notify him of the impending publication of the book Dear V. Apparently, she says, Arthur talks about his friends and marriages in detail in...
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Chapter 39
Though she is mentioned in the book, Arthur tells Miranda he did use some discretion in his letters to Victoria. He tells...
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...this point in the conversation, a young Kirsten enters the dressing room with her coloring book. Miranda is introduced to Kirsten and reflects that she will probably grow up to be...
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...to give Arthur two copies of the first two issues of the “Dr. Eleven” comic books.
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While Arthur flips through the comics, Kirsten colors in her coloring book. Kirsten fears that she has messed up coloring the princess’s dress, but Miranda and Arthur...
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Chapter 43
During this time, Tyler spends his days reading his comic books over and over again. Elizabeth constantly prays. The televisions are all silent. On Day Twelve...
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...was already fragile. She believes that this catastrophe will pass. She tells him about a book she read about vampires that made it appear as if the world had ended, but...
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...the conditions begin to feel normal. Tyler keeps mostly to himself and reads his comic books and the New Testament. The people living in the airport trade languages and learn to...
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Chapter 44
...remembering an incident with Tyler before they left. Clark had seen Tyler reading from a book to the abandoned airplane at the edge of the tarmac. Tyler was reading passages from...
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Chapter 45
...after the collapse, François has created a library, where he has accumulated a collection of books, magazines, and pre-collapse newspapers. Only recently did he get the idea to publish his own...
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Chapter 50
...the darkness of the undersea.” Kirsten recognizes the Undersea as from the “Station Eleven” comic books, but the prophet is no longer listening to her. She responds to him with lines...
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Chapter 51
...people she’s killed, and the strange coincidence of meeting someone else with “Station Eleven” comic books.
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Chapter 53
...tired. As they drink wine, Arthur shows Tanya a copy of the “Station Eleven” comic books and says he has sent the other set to Tyler. Arthur doesn’t really understand the...
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...since he won’t be in Israel for Tyler’s birthday. Tyler loves the “Station Eleven” comic books, and begins excitedly explaining them to his father. This will be their last conversation, though...
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...he takes the stage, Kirsten tells him that she read the beginning of the comic books and that she loves them. Arthur walks onto the stage and bungles his line, and...
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Chapter 55
...five-week stay of performing and resting. Kirsten has given one of her “Dr. Eleven” comics books to Clark to keep in the Museum of Civilization, so that if something happens to...
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In the comic book, Dr. Eleven has his arms crossed, lost in thought. Clark remembers the dinner party in...
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