She is described as loving and warm. This moment occurs at the end of Nora's first adventure in a parallel life. What she thinks in this moment is that there isn't really a so-called perfect life, but rather a series of lives with their own specific challenges, even if some appear more exciting than others. Ryan Bailey is a fictional movie star. Matt Haig fills his novel The Midnight Library with many literary devices, especially symbolism, metaphor, and allusion. Matt Haig has written several books that draw from his personal experiences with depression, suicide and mental wellness, The Midnight Library Tackles Regret and Choices in a Quirky Way. Consequently, the reader is able to focus all their attention on Nora and her sorrows. Though Noras perspective shifts incrementally with each new life she enters, this experience particularly contributes significantly to her reframing of what it means to lead a good life. Nora returns to her old life because she has a renewed sense of possibility. eNotes.com will help you with any book or any question. You are giving up at the worst possible moment. Cooper, James ed. In The Midnight Library, thirty-five-year-old Nora finds out from a handsome young surgeon, Ash, that her beloved cat has been killed. On a beautiful page titledExpectation, Nora imagines What it would be like to accept herself completely, every mistake she had made every dream she hadn't reached. WebThe Midnight Library Symbols & Objects. In this excerpt, Mrs. Elm explains how the Midnight Library works and the purpose that it serves. Once a gifted swimmer and musician, she currently works in a music shop and gives piano lessons. C) It reveals to readers something that Nora likely does not know. Mired in this repeating pattern, regret becomes the predominant emotion in Noras life. I usually read three books at . In my head, Im thinking of libraries with grand architecture and hallways full of hidden secrets and rare books. It can also be a character, or an act. A dazzling novel about all the choices that go into a life well lived, from the internationally bestselling author ofReasons to Stay AliveandHow To Stop Time. My word of the year this year is SELF, and I dont feel like I can be my best self if Im only experiencing a limited range of feelings. After being able to see many different iterations of her life, and the impact her choices can have, she realizes there is still so much she can do to make her life better. "The Midnight Library Characters". More opportunities to have. from St. We don't have to play every game to know what winning feels like. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Remember how you felt after the polar bear. Then she wakes up in a mysterious library filled with books of other lives she might have led and an invitation from the librarian, Mrs. Elm, to enter their pages. from St. Early in the book, He just makes the whole thing soeasy. Mrs. Elm, p. 32 This quote is taken from early in the novel, as Mrs. Elm explains to Nora how lives are shaped by seemingly minor choices. Yet Nora is not particularly tragic or heroic, so I found that I couldnt connect with her, which is a shame because there are no true secondary characters in the novel. She decides to overdose on pills,but does not meet the oblivion she was hoping for. Most gossip is envy in disguise., Never underestimate the big importance of small things, A person was like a city. The idea of success is complicated and questioned as the novel progresses. When Nora tries to kill herself, she ends up in a library with Mrs. Elm, the school librarian she knew in her childhood. The novels simple yet fantastical premise renders Noras story a modern day parable, exploring regret, pain and the richness of the ordinary in life. Im a voracious reader. What does the first potential life reveal? Not affiliated with Harvard College. The library described in the book turned out to be different from what I had imagined, although it was intriguing all the same. Like Nora, Hugo is a fellow traveler through his alternative lives. This moment occurs late in the novel, after Nora has spent a great deal of time in her supposed "best" life. WebNora is the main character in The Midnight Library.She is a 35-year-old British woman who lives alone with her cat in the quiet town of Bedford. In feeling so overcome with terror, she also realizes that she wants to continue living. It is to wake up every morning and do what makes you happy, whether that happiness is found in the most extravagant or modest lifestyles. Word Count: 924. WebThe Midnight Library by Matt Haig. We dont know how she will spend it or who she will spend it with. What is the main theme of The Midnight Library? This both suggests the potential for change in Nora's life and reveals the mechanism that allows her, using the "Midnight Library," to travel to different versions of her life. WebA symbol can be an object, a sound, or a bodily sensation. Yet, it also means enduring the most painful and heartbreaking moments of life. Nineteen years later, after a series of painful events, including the loss of her job and the death of her cat, Nora feels that the world would simply be better off without her. It makes for a great philosophical read about the regrets we have in life. WebIn the Midnight Library, Mrs. Elm says that she can't overlook minor decisions, because, in chess, every piece has the potential to radically change the course of a game, just like these choices can reshape a life. The narrator knows all the thoughts and feelings of the protagonist, Nora, but not of any of the other characters. The library functions as a symbol of Nora's parallel lives. date the date you are citing the material. One cement-grey book, however, is different from the rest. Nora, who is treated like a mistake in need of correction by her mother, seeks comfort and kindness from Ms Elm, after finding out her father has died. Nora likens herself to a black hole because her life is imploding daily; when the novel opens, the omniscient narrator mentions that Nora will commit suicide. In this library, Nora Seed finds endless books which contain different versions of the life she could have lived. When there is a severe disruption in that power source the library is in jeopardy. I have no other type of thinking available., And that sadness is intrinsically part of the fabric of happiness. She realizes, too, that she can always make new and better choices going forward. You couldn't let a few less desirable parts put you off the whole. GradeSaver, 29 December 2022 Web. You get the flow of the story quickly Nora reflects on a key milestone or regret, she makes a decision, and she experiences the consequences of that choice. The talented aspiring Olympic swimmer turned aspiring rock star now aspires only to stop living. She spends a great deal of her time reflecting on her regrets, like not pursuing a career with her band the Labyrinthes and calling off her engagement to her ex-boyfriend. In the Midnight Library, Mrs. Elm says that she can't overlook minor decisions, because, in chess, every piece has the potential to radically change the course of a game, just like these choices can reshape a life. It reveals how exploring these unlived lives has opened her up to the idea that she can make a change in her daily life. Melendez, John. Look at how ordered and safe and peaceful it looks now, before a game starts. The only reason Nora didnt end up living one of those lives instead of the life she recently chose to end is because of the choices she made leading up to the present moment. In another, shes a glaciologist. Maybe that was the only meaning that mattered. I dont think polar bears look this chummy in real life. The library allows Nora to reverse her regrets and pursue different iterations of her existence. Would any of these other lives truly be better? Just as, she supposed, it is hard to have a sense of the vastness inside any one person. In these depictions, the image of a chessboard is used to illustrate the idea that life is full of variable outcomes. However, on meeting Nora a complex but deeply likeable character I had faith that the book would be a compassionate illustration of an often stigmatised experience. In a few instances, Nora chooses lives that are radically different from her root life. Ultimately, with the help of Hugo Lefvre, Nora comes to believe that the Midnight Library is a philosophical construct by which her brain can make sense of the presence of parallel universes. The novels simple yet fantastical premise renders Noras story a modern day parable, exploring regret, pain and the richness of the ordinary in life. This acts as an easy analog for Noras circumstances: each of these lives exists as truly and completely as the others, even those that directly contradict others. GradeSaver, 29 December 2022 Web. How is the idea of success framed throughout the novel? As Mrs. Elm, the librarian at the Midnight Library, puts it, You have as many lives as you have possibilities. WebThe Midnight Library Quotes and Analysis "Doing one thing differently is often the same as doing everything differently." While the When I started reading The Midnight Library I figured I knew exactly what was coming its a lesson in living life with no regrets, of not always wishing the grass was greener or imagining what your life might be like if only. Nora feels sad that they have drifted apart over the years. Choice and regret: The novel The chessboard works as a symbol in the novel of possibility. When she loses momentum, she then finds herself stuck in situations that foster situational depression. Instead she finds herself wandering an enormous library, where the books without titles enable her to rewrite her own life story by undoing the decisions that have haunted her as regrets. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. And don't give a second thought when people mock it or ridicule it. Let's look at some examples of these. Work hard at it. Acres of disappointment and monotony and hurts and rivalries but with flashes of wonder and beauty. It is like stage fright only worse, for Nora can never really get off the stage of her own life. Each book contains a life Chessboard (Symbol). It is dead. My views may probably be a little surprising for some, given that this book is an award-winner and has a rating of more than 4 out of 5 on various review websites. Not affiliated with Harvard College. PartSliding Doors,part-philosophical quest, this is a moving novel with a powerful mental health message at its heart. Alice OKeeffe,The Bookseller, Haigs latest (after the nonfiction collectionNotes on a Nervous Planet, 2019) is a stunning contemporary story that explores the choices that make up a life, and the regrets that can stifle it. She is a professor of philosophy and has a daughter. In this way, the novel highlights how her life always had a hidden potential for change. The image of the chessboard symbolizes possibility in the novel. These, and additional, sad occurrences leave Nora feeling unneeded in the world. The Midnight Library is out now in the UK and America. Eventually facing disappointment with every regret she expunges, Nora returns to the library confused. How does LIFE make you feel? WebMatt Haig's unique novel The Midnight Library ponders the infinite possibilities of life. What is the significance of the multiverse or many-worlds theory in The Midnight Library. Like Nora, our regrets encourage us to make different decisions in our future, and redirect our time and energy towards activities, people and ways of living that make us feel happy. In a parallel life, they are happily married. I think this is a really interesting, really important hypothetical.