Life as we know it consists of electricity, cars and millions of other gadgets that make our lives easy. However, in the Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch, human civilization was destroyed by nuclear warfare. As economy meltdown and society collapse, the Chinese weaponized P-11, a mutated version of influenza. Even without the biological weapon, society was on the verge of collapse. The plague was simply just another symptom of the sick and dying world. The protagonist, Stephen Quinn, was born after the Collapse and only vaguely knows of the previous civilization. Stephen lived his whole life on the barren landscape of the war-torn America along with the remaining one-third of the population. Stephen’s entire life consists of 2 strict rules:…show more content… The gloomy atmosphere is used to support the hopeless feeling at the beginning of the story and then changed into a loving atmosphere to reflect on the warm feeling of home. With America reduced to ruins and the country completely desolate, the most important is survival. This creates a desperate survival instinct for Stephen. This further influences his point of view to only focus on the means necessary for survival. This desperation is…show more content… Moreover, with no more civilization present, there will be no more reconstruction but instead replaced by infinite destruction. So this desperation will just continue to infinitely grow without any possibility of mending the wound. Moreover, resources and other necessities for survival will quickly run short and survival will soon be impossible. However, when Stephen’s grandfather died, his iron rules for survival softened and eventually Stephen’s will for a normal life vanquished his previous points of view. The long hidden desire is then released when Stephen meets truly loving people. This change happened as a sense of love is shown
