Mirambana

 

Part One: 

Mirambana is a strong community committed to the happiness of its citizens. In Mirambana, the government supplies all basic necessities: healthy food, clean air, clean water, and a shelter accommodated to their needs. We try our best to keep our environment clean. On the outskirts of our community, we have all our farms, our cemetery, and compost bins. We have small hills, but generally, it is flat land. Our weather is comprised of 70-degree weather with a shining sun. Some days are rainy, but even then, the next day always brightens up the week. Working in Mirambana is unnecessary, but we have increased incentives for working. There is paid maternal and paternal leave, sick, and vacation time. Our government provides insurance. In addition, we have laws prioritizing citizens’ mental and physical health over the company they work for. We have a bi-yearly survey for our citizens and use the data from this survey to make a questionnaire. This questionnaire is used to determine how many citizens delegate something as a problem and how they would like to go about it. At Mirambana, there is no president or king; instead, we have an elected, diverse group of people that use their power to help the citizens. Corruption is intolerable in Mirambana. Although we have a prison, we also have a mandatory rehabilitation program. This program is meant to determine the prisoner’s issues and how we can prevent them from returning. Our main goal is to allow our citizens to thrive without suffering.  

Part Two: 

Reader’s Journal: 

“But she knows she’ll never belong here no matter how hard she tries. These are not her people. She is marooned on a strange planet. The best she can do is pretend to be unflappable when she isn’t” (Mandel 96). 

I feel connected to this quote because it reminds me of when I was in middle and high school. I have always felt like I did not belong in any of my friend groups. I remember one time at Valleyfair when I had a panic attack with my friends, and they told me to go home because I was ruining their fun. The feeling I had during that point is similar to what I got while reading this quote. I also think it is funny that the character in the book has the same name as me.  

“But Miranda, watching from outside, sees everything: the way Elizabeth goes still and looks down, the way Arthur thanks everyone for coming to his home, meeting everyone’s eyes except Elizabeth’s, who has lightly touched his thigh under the table, and this is when she understands. It’s too late, and it’s been too late for a while” (Mandel 98). 

This quote invokes pure anger towards Arthur. Mandel’s use of the run-on sentence makes me feel like I am there watching Arthur with Miranda. I know the feeling of getting cheated on, and this quote reminds me of how awful it feels. I respect Miranda’s choice not to be confrontational during dinner. I do not think I would have had the same response as her.  

Discussion Questions: 

We learn about Arthur’s past. He was from Delano Island and had a love-hate relationship with the island. He went to the University of Toronto but dropped out and pursued a career in acting. He met Clark and became friends with him. Arthur’s mother convinces Arthur to get lunch with Miranda, and we learn she was seventeen when she met Arthur, who was around 28 or 29. When he is thirty-six, and Miranda is twenty-four, he calls her up to meet for dinner. 

The comic book Station Eleven and Dear V appear in both timelines. I think Station Eleven is the utopia of Miranda’s mind, and it offers comfort for her. The hero in her comics, Dr. Eleven, has “a striking resemblance to Pablo but is otherwise nothing like him (Mandel 83). I think she made Dr. Eleven resemble Pablo because she wanted Pablo to change and be a good boyfriend. Kirsten finds value in these comics because they are one of the few books or entertainment they found. She also values Dear V because the book belonged to her mother. So I see a parallel between Arthur being in both timelines. Another parallel is that Kirsten may use Dr. Eleven as an escape like Miranda did.  

The story goes from the Symphony traveling together toward the Museum of Civilization to Kirsten and August traveling alone. While Jackson, Viola, and Kirsten check out a school for instruments, they find a skeleton with a bullet hole. They move on, and during watch, Dieter and Sayid disappear without a trace. After looking for Sayid and Dieter, they ended up giving up. Then, Sidney disappears as well. Kirsten and August go fishing for the group and discover that the Symphony has left. It was mysterious as to why they would have left. As Kirsten and August move on trying to find the Museum of Civilization, they come across an untouched house. They also find a guy named Finn with a pair of twin children. They find out that Finn and the children left the prophet behind. They find a boy and his parents dead in their beds in the untouched house, and Kirsten finds a new dress to put on. They are separated from the group and find dead people while on the road. It is not a good sign for the following chapters.