VOCABULARY, TEXT STRUCTURES,
and LANGUAGE FEATURES
Embedded Files
Language Features
Authors make specific language choices in their work to support and create meaning in a text. These may include sentence structures, noun groups, phrases, vocabulary, punctuation, language patterns, figurative language, symbolism, colloquial language and personification. These choices vary according to the purpose of a text, its subject matter, audience, context and mode.
Examples of Language Features in Station Eleven
Motifs
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the central themes of a book or play.
Key motifs include the paperweight, airplanes and the Station Eleven comic.
Similes and Metaphors
".. dragging souls across the landscape like cans on a string."
“That’s how the Man wants us, just trapped right there in the corporate machine.”
"Civilization in Year Twenty was an archipelago of small towns."
Mandel uses imagery of people being “sleepwalkers,” and “zombies” to contrast agency vs passivity.
Symbolism
Symbols can be a sign, shape, or object that is used to represent something more than its literal meaning.
The Paperweight: Beauty of art; connectedness
Airplanes: Civilization and hope
Kirsten’s tattoos: the moral cost of survival.
Juxtaposition
Juxtaposition is the placement of two things side-by-side (characters, contexts, ideas, objects) in order to highlight a contrast.
The author juxtaposes the pre- and post-collapse worlds to highlight, for e.g.:
the enduring resilience of humankind
the fragility of a global world
Text Structures
The manner in which information/ideas/events are organised in different texts. Examples of text structures include chapter headings, subheadings. overviews, introductory and concluding paragraphs, sequencing, topic sentences, taxonomies and chronology.
The author's choice of text structures is essential to the novel's meaning. Mandel uses specific text structures to mirror the fragmented nature of memory.
Examples of Text Structures in Station Eleven
Non-Linear Narrative
The plot jumps across three primary timelines: pre-pandemic, the immediate collapse, and Year Twenty post-collapse. This connects characters’ past lives with their current identities.
Bookending
The story begins and ends with the death of Arthur Leander, serving as the central pivot for all character arcs.
Embedded Narratives
Mandel includes excerpts from Miranda’s Station Eleven comic book, interviews with Kirsten, and Arthur’s letters.
Intertextuality
References to Shakespeare (King Lear, A Midsummer Night’s Dream), and Star Trek
Vocabulary
Words that exist in language or for a particular subject.
Authors make deliberate choices about the words they use to 'paint a picture' of the world they want to create for the reader.
Examples of Vocabulary in Station Eleven
Epidemic: a disease affecting many persons at the same time, and spreading from person to person in a locality where the disease is not permanently prevalent.
Survivalist: a person who makes preparations to survive a widespread catastrophe, such as an atomic war or anarchy, especially by storing food and weapons in a safe place.
Avatar: a graphical image that represents a person, as on the Internet.
Malnourished: poorly or improperly fed; suffering from malnutrition
Tarry: to remain or stay, as in a place; sojourn
Ferals: those having reverted to a wild state
Magnitude: the size or extent of something
Torpor: sluggish inactivity or inertia
Fissures: narrow openings produced by cleavage or separation of parts
Culling: the act of picking out and putting aside as inferior
Infirmary: a place in a large institution for the care of those who are ill
Sequestered: isolated and hidden away: a wild sequestered spot.
Gardenias: a tree or shrub with large fragrant white or yellow flowers. Native to warm climates.
Remnant: a small remaining quantity of something
Banality: the fact or condition of being banal; unoriginality
Archaeologist: a person who studies human history and prehistory through the excavation of sites and the analysis of artifacts and other physical remains
Fedora: a low, soft felt hat with a curled brim and the crown creased lengthwise.
Midwife: a person (typically a woman) trained to assist women in childbirth.
Pestilential: relating to or tending to cause infectious diseases
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