How Does Kiristen Survive In The Last 20 Years

It is likely that Kirsten Raymonde will survive to the end of the book. However, surviving is more than just physical, it also encompasses who a person is and whether that changes or not. Despite the 20 years that were undeniably different than the first 8 years of Kirsten’s life she has managed to hold on to pieces of who that little girl was. She remains stable in her development of social skills despite the limited interaction that she may have been accustomed to in the pre-pandemic world, this is rebellion. Survival is all of these things and more.
Kirsten managed to hold onto the pieces of her life from the adolescence that she remembers. Arthur Leander gave her comic books when she was young, and she holds onto those 20 years later. Every time she sees magazines she searches through them searching for a familiar face in the pages, that of Arthur Leander. She takes clippings out of these magazines and saves them, so she can look at them later, she holds on to a memory of a man that died in front of her 20 years earlier. She is performing in

plays with the traveling symphony long after theaters and spotlights. They little girl that was present at the beginning is still showing through in the woman that she becomes two decades later.
Not only does she survive by holding on to memories and pieces of her past, but she also physically survives.

Her body is still fully functioning and alive, she has the physical ability to take part in all activities that take place day to day. She performs in plays and find newspaper clippings that contain images of Arthur Leander. She breaks into old abandoned buildings with August, another member of the traveling symphony, allowed to do so because on occasion they find items deemed useful by the conductor. She accompanies the traveling as they are “traveling back and forth along the shores of Lakes Huron and Michigan, west as far as Traverse City, east and north over the 49th parallel to Kincardine” (Mandel 37). to different cities by walking alongside the caravan. There would be no way of her participating in these activities if she had not physically survived for 20 years after the Georgia Flu devastated the

world.
Throughout the 20 years of no education, limited interaction with children her age, and limited food supply she has developed normally. She is not developmentally delayed in social interaction or comprehension of different texts that she acquires over time. This is a form of survival because it is an act of rebellion against the tragedy she was a victim to. Despite her young age and the death of her mother, Kirsten has learned how to read, learned how to interact as an adult, and learned how to provide for her basic needs. She still has friends and happy moments in the face of great sadness. This act of survival is different because it is a rebellion so different than the other forms. It is the beautiful kind, the fact that people can still have a life that is good even through such tragic times is survival.
Survival is not just one thing, it is many things, both small victories and big ones. Survival is holding on to humanity, remaining faithful to beliefs, seeking happiness in tragedy. It is remaining triumphant in defeat, and searching for the rainbow in the storm. Kirsten fits these characteristics because she has faced something that many of the others may not have faced themselves. She is durable and young, she is strong and intelligent, she has what it takes to survive. She has what it takes to survive and if she keeps on going the way she has for the past 20 years she will.