Hope and Faith as the Tools for Survival in "Station Eleven"

The doomsday book Station Eleven by Emily Mandel has the theme of faith and fate, demonstrates how in events of struggle and fear, such as an epidemic, people turn to faith for help. The author represents faith as something that has similar importance in the matter of values of art, it gives some of the sense of purpose, community, and it gives people the motivation of continuity and permanence into a world, that changed into devasting/horrifying world. Also, faith causes an interpretation that everything happens for a reason. But, in the world of an epidemic that has already devasted the earth and only left just a few survivors behind, where it gives them such viewpoint, that based on all the mass death of the world and the quilt that they once had during the event. They have come up with the idea that they not only deserved to survive but, it was almost destined. In modern-day, there is an event called forged in faith and Getty fire, where it got the name Getty fire, by the fact that there was a massive fire that burned some part of the neighborhood in the Los Angeles area. 'I thought of God. How could he do this to me? To anyone?....Days before the Getty fire, I wasn't concerned about God at all..”(Jewish Journal, Behnam). 

The protagonist of the event gets the full experience of the Getty fire, where it impacted to a great extent in that moment of his life. As the story develops, he comes up with the same conclusion of Station Eleven, where he thought he was meant to survive the Getty fire. So, when it comes to the book Station Eleven, the characters of the story, rather than having a fire that affects their lives, an epidemic occurs and overall they have a different viewpoint of why they deserved to survive. Specifically, one character originally called Tyler, the son of one of the main characters, but as the story develops, he is known for being the corrupt prophet. Where the author uses him as an example of how faith can be extremely dangerous. 'The flu, the prophet said, 'the great cleansing that we suffered twenty years ago, that flu was our flood. The light we carry within us is the ark that carried Noah and his people over the face of the terrible waters, and I submit that we were saved' - his voice was rising - 'not only to bring the light, to spread the light, but to be the light. We were saved because we are the light. We are pure.'' (Mandel.60). In some moments, faith can be seen as being a tool for survival. In a community, some people handled that tool as a root of power. The prophet becomes a cult leader, where he abuses his power by forcing his will upon other people.