Station Eleven Lesson Plan

What does the Symphony's motto mean? Do you agree with it? Why or why not?

The Symphony's motto is that survival is insufficient. That is the reason they continue to travel and perform music and Shakespeare—just surviving isn't enough for them. Even prior to the pandemic, Clark comes to realize that he too may be just surviving his life rather than living it. Indeed the book as a whole seems to be evidence that survival alone is indeed insufficient, but perhaps it has not convinced the class. There are certainly times in which survival is sufficient: the immediate aftermath of the outbreak, for example. Sometimes when the world is especially hard and dangerous, all people...