Station Eleven: Hermeneutic Code

The hermeneutic code has ten parts ( not all ten have to be present) that allows the text to propose, maintain through numerous delays, and resolve enigmas. I believe that this can be seen in the novel Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel.

As I summarized in my previous blogs, the text is a post-apocalyptic novel that is written in the perspectives of different characters and different time periods. In the first part we are introduced to Jeevan, who tries to save a Hollywood actor, Arthur (who dies) on stage. We are introduced to the Georgia flu, which is the epidemic that causes the collapse of civilization.

The first part of the hermeneutic code is thematization. This is defined as “the semic definition of character, object, place as mysterious.” This can be seen when Kirsten is introduced in the second part of the text when it jumps twenty years after the collapse. She is traveling in a Symphony from town to town performing various plays. She is connected to Arthur because she is first introduced in the scene when Arthur passes. She was a young girl who had a small role in the play. As the Symphony is traveling, they come upon a town that they left their friends in. While searching for the two friends, they notice that the town has changed dramatically. It is now run by a cult with a leader known as the Prophet. This is the first mysterious place the reader encounters. The second mystery is the graveyard with names the names of their friends and a young girl that follows them. Again, the reader is introduced to another mystery as members of the Symphony go missing after leaving this town.

The proposal of the enigma, which is “the dawning of the actual mystery” can be seen as the audience reads through Kirsten’s perspective. She is wondering what happened to her friends as the group is searching for them. She contemplates whether they were taken or left the Symphony on their own. Then we see the formulation of the enigma (various supplementations that amplify the mystery) when a letter is found in one of the missing person’s things. It sounds like a suicide note, but the group is not sure on the time when the letter was written because dates mean so little after the collapse. Then again when Kirsten and August (a boy around her age) was left by the others in the Symphony. It states in the text,

“Why would the Symphony travel in a downpour, unless there was some unexpected emergency?” (143).

Finally the request for an answer can be seen in the text after Kirsten and August are on their own. This is when we see a character’s desire to resolve the mystery announced. In the text it says,

“Kirsten slept fitfully, aware each time she woke of the emptiness of the landscape, the lack of people and animals and caravans around her. Hell is the absence of the people you long for” (144).

She is longing to find her friends and the Symphony. She wants to understand what happened in the town with the Prophet because it is inclined that she thinks the two are connected. I believe she will find out the correlation between all the characters and Arthur.