The Traveling Symphony
What is the motto painted on the side of the Symphony’s lead caravan?
“Because survival is insufficient.”
What character is revealed to be the Prophet, the son of Arthur Leander and Elizabeth Colton.
Tyler
What character started the Museum of Civilization in the Severn City Airport?
Clark
Arthur Leander dies on stage while performing this Shakespearean play.
King Lear
This weather-related object, owned by Arthur, Miranda, and eventually Clark, contains a miniature world that never changes.
Snow globe
What character is the Symphony’s best Shakespearean actress and hides two tattoos of knives on her wrist.
Kirsten
The Prophet views the Georgia Flu not as a biological event, but as this religious concept.
"The Great Cleansing"
Name three items in the Museum that are "obsolete" but preserved for their historical value.
Cell phones, credit cards, high-heeled shoes, passports, or laptops.
What woman is Arthur’s first wife and the author/artist of the Station Eleven comic books?
Miranda
This fictional location in Miranda’s comic book is a space station where "it is always night" and people long to return to Earth.
Station Eleven
What is the specific reason the Symphony performs Shakespeare instead of modern plays?
"people want what was best about the world"
What is the name of the dog that both the Prophet and the character in the Station Eleven comic share?
Lulli
What does the "Airgrad" (the people who lived in the airport) represent in terms of human civilization?
They represent the transition from "waiting to be rescued" to "building a new world" and the preservation of memory.
What character was Arthur’s best friend and eventually becomes the curator of the Museum?
Clark
Kirsten and August have a habit of breaking into abandoned houses not just for food, but to look for these specific, outdated luxury items.
magazines
How does the Symphony’s internal conflict regarding "The Clarinet" reflect the tension between older and younger generations post-collapse?
The Clarinet represents the "rebellious" youth who wants to create new art, while the older members cling to the "perfection" of the past.
Contrast the Prophet’s use of the "Station Eleven" comics with Kirsten’s use of them.
Kirsten uses them as a source of beauty/escape, the Prophet uses the "Undersea" as a blueprint for his cult and the idea of waiting for a "return."
Why does Clark spend so much time "curating" the museum?
To honor the "ghosts" of the old world and to ensure that the beauty of human ingenuity (like the miracle of a cell phone) isn't forgotten.
How does Arthur’s "high-pressure" life in Hollywood mirror the "high-pressure" survival in the post collapse world?
Both worlds involve a loss of true connection, Arthur lived in a "fog" of fame, much like the "fog" of survival after the flu.
The "Undersea" in the comics consists of people who only want to go home. How does this mirror the "Airgrad" residents at the Severn City Airport?
Both groups are "stuck" in a state of longing for a past that no longer exists, they are defined by their wait for a "rescue" that isn't coming.
According to the novel, why does Kirsten not remember the first year after the collapse?
The "collapse of the memory" was a survival mechanism, the text says, "the more you remember, the more you’ve lost."
What does the Prophet mean when he says, "There is no pre-collapse world"?
He believes the old world was a dream or a sin, and only the present "purified" world is real.
What is the glass object was given to Kirsten by Arthur and eventually ends up in the Museum.
paperweight
What is the significance of Arthur’s letters to V?
They represent his regret and his desire to be "seen" as a real person rather than a celebrity, they serve as a record of his true self.
Explain the symbolic significance of the "Deer in the Lobby."
It represents nature reclaiming the world and the "quietness" of the collapse. As the text suggests, the world becomes more beautiful even as it becomes more dangerous.