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. English novelist and author of The Midnight Library, Matt Haig, has written several fiction and non-fiction books. Copyright 1999 - 2023 GradeSaver LLC. Ed. When she loses momentum, she then finds herself stuck in situations that foster situational depression. Where she is in her life now, she finally realizes, is the result of having done the best she could with the emotional resources she had available. 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. "This is the best life," she told herself, a little desperately now. Last Updated on July 8, 2021, by eNotes Editorial. 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. The talented aspiring Olympic swimmer turned aspiring rock star now aspires only to stop living. . While Nora sees many different versions of her life throughout the book, the story ends with her back in Bedford. She is attempting to tell her that, as her adventures have revealed, her life still contains so many hidden possibilities. Enjoy eNotes ad-free and cancel anytime. Its no coincidence that this strong emotion triggers such a powerful feeling in her, but Im just not sure Ive given this enough thought lately. Self-harm is discussed throughout the novel, with calmness and grace, as Haig describes the tell-tale scar lines that Nora notices on her body in some of the different lives that she enters. Log in here. As the main character, Nora Seed, traverses through her different life possibilities, the library becomes the main place where she returns to reflect upon the paths she could have chosen. B) It foreshadows Noras tragic death. The Midnight Library is available from NLB Overdrive and copies can also be bought from retailers such as Amazon. from St. Life isnt about being fine though it it? "The Midnight Library Characters". When she finds herself in the Midnight Library, Nora is offered the opportunity to reckon with her regrets by finding out what would have happened if she had made other choices in her life. In her present life, she wonders what might have happened if she had gone through with her engagement to Dan. This quote is taken from early in the novel, as Mrs. Elm explains to Nora how lives are shaped by seemingly minor choices. Joe is gay and struggles with his father's disapproval of his sexual orientation. . By the end of The Midnight Library though I was left feeling like an even keel doesnt really cut it. WebMrs. It was weird, to have your own body offer clues to a mystery. Our summaries and analyses are written by experts, and your questions are answered by real teachers. Would your expectations have changed, and as a result, would your reaction have changed? After losing World War One in 1918, the Germans were in an utter state of disillusionment and despair. Shes been an Olympian, a dog-walker, and a glassblower. Already a member? She has a difficult relationship with her brother and feels generally detached from the world around her. In one she is a famous rockstar. You dont need to be famous or rich or medal winning to lead a spectacular life. 2023. Who are the experts?Our certified Educators are real professors, teachers, and scholars who use their academic expertise to tackle your toughest questions. When I finished The Midnight Library I wasnt left wanting a nice sit down on a comfy sofa reading a magazine, as nice as that is I was left wanting to come face to face with a polar bear, to feel a rush of adrenalin standing up to speak in front of hundreds of people. 4 Mar. Plain and simple. As Mrs. Elm, the librarian at the Midnight Library, puts it, You have as many lives as you have possibilities. WebA) It tells the reader that Nora will die when she is 19. But in her life as a competitive swimmer, he is alive. In these depictions, the image of a chessboard is used to illustrate the idea that life is full of variable outcomes. Discuss the theme of childhood as presented in "Games at Twilight" by Anita Desai. I was both intrigued and uneasy about the use of a fantastical library to explore something as real and horrific as suicidal depression. And The excess of fame emphasizes his substance abuse problems to the point of fatality. eNotes.com will help you with any book or any question. That the prison wasn't the place, but the perspective., The thing that looks the most ordinary might end up being the thing that leads you to victory., Regrets dont leave. Proudly brought to you by the fine folks at the Astonishing Legends Podcast- Not just another show but a place you can go: The Midnight Library. I am staying here. Here, she finds herself slowly slipping away, despite wishing she could stay longer, as she knows this is not where she belongs. Regardless of their genre, his writing explores the many elements that impact a persons satisfaction with life. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. She quickly learns that they are not very happy in this life, as he is continually dismissive of the things she says and seems distant. Error rating book. More opportunities to have. One evening, she decides to put herself out of her misery and end it all. Faced with a number of promising opportunities in her lifehigh-level competitive swimming, a pending marriage, a record deal, a move to AustraliaNora has, at each turn, chosen inaction. Acres of disappointment and monotony and hurts and rivalries but with flashes of wonder and beauty. That idea of a root life is one of the central metaphors of the story. TW: This article discusses suicide, suicidal ideation, antidepressants and self-harm, We first meet Nora Seed, nineteen years before she decides to die, as she plays chess in the school library with Mrs Elm, the matter-of-fact school librarian. He asks her on a date once and she wonders if there might be something between them romantically. In one life, she is a rock-star. Completely agree, feeling all of the feels is being alive even when the tears flow. "The Midnight Library Quotes and Analysis". This was the first book I finished since the first lockdown life, work, babies, teaching and all that other stuff has got in the way of my love of reading. There are so many versions of you out there. Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically. Why does Nora return to her old life at the end of the novel? This moment has a mixed tone, as it celebrates the fact that Nora has chosen to stay in her life but points out the slight comedy of her triumph coming in the form of "vomiting all over her duvet." WebThe midnight library represents a chance for Nora to erase her regrets. Good choices, she comes to understand, do not necessarily correlate to good outcomes. She discovers that she also cannot teleport back to the library. Why are Ravi and Joe upset that Nora left the band? That is not to say that The Midnight Library is a miss. We just have to close our eyes and savour the taste of the drink in front of us and listen to the song as it plays. Knowing now that her choices can have a dramatic and unforeseen impact, she feels more hopeful about how much she can change things. date the date you are citing the material. 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. And you can get to the other side and unlock all kinds of power., It is quite a revelation to discover that the place you wanted to escape to is the exact same place you escaped from. Cooper, James ed. But amid pure naturesolitude took on a different character. To see how things would be if you had made other choices . Its a beautiful thing. With our Essay Lab, you can create a customized outline within seconds to get started on your essay right away. You get no sense of the length of those longitudes and latitudes. It makes for a great philosophical read about the regrets we have in life. Work hard at it. WebThe Midnight Library Symbols, Allegory and Motifs The Midnight Library (Symbol). 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. However, in one of her parallel lives, she learns that he is unhappy with her and cheats on her. T he main themes in The Midnight Library are choice and regret, philosophy and the meaning of life, and relationships and forgiveness. She takes a bottle, hoping to die, but wakes up at midnight in a massive library. The pivotal moments for Nora dont happen when shes just CONTENT. "A Conversation About Rain" to "The Chessboard", "The Only Way to Learn Is to Live" to "System Error", Read the Study Guide for The Midnight Library. And with all the knowledge she gained from jumping to and from the many lives she could have potentially lived, Nora is determined to make her current reality one she would check out from The Midnight Library., About Annenberg Media These relationship changes are often the best indicator of a given lifes suitabilityin lives where she is still close to Joe and Izzy, in particular, she feels a sense of relief that a universal wrong has been righted. Easy to wish we'd developed other other talents, said yes to different offers. Aim to be the truest version of you. Brilliant point . Mired in this repeating pattern, regret becomes the predominant emotion in Noras life. eNotes.com will help you with any book or any question. She now has a And between her and herself., Happy moments can turn into pain, given time.. The Question and Answer section for The Midnight Library is a great The paradox of volcanoes was that they were symbols of destruction but also life. Best summary PDF, themes, and quotes. Endorse it. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. 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. The final line suggests the remaining precariousness of her situation, as she is still just barely alive after ingesting this overdose of medication. All we know is shes been given a second chance, one she fought desperately for towards the end of the novel. Nora blinked, and when she opened her eyes both she and Mrs Elm were standing in a different part of the library. WebThat is not to say that The Midnight Library is a miss. Not affiliated with Harvard College. Where the Mind Is Without Fear (Gitanjali 35), The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child. 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. How is the idea of success framed throughout the novel? Dan is Nora's ex-fianc. Nora's father dies when she is fairly young. You might not be uplifted by Nora Seed, but the book deals with some dark themes in a quirky and sensitive manner, and for that, I would suggest you keep it in your reading list, albeit closer to the bottom than the top. When she survives her suicide attempt, she awakens with a sense of peace in her life that has previously eluded her. It might look small and ordinary but it isn't. Curl up in a window seat or She is despondently lonely and thinks that she no longer has a purpose. Each book in it represents the way Nora's life might have turned out had she made different decisions. Love and laughter and fear and pain are universal currencies. There are lives in which both Joe and Izzy are dead, and their deaths can be indirectly traced to Noras presence or absence in their lives. He also purchases a Simon and Garfunkel guitar songbook from her at the music store. When Nora meets him, she finds him to be less interesting and intelligent than she envisioned. The novel opens with her playing chess with Nora and talking about the possibilities of life. This is the best life.". This was not the life she imagined it to be. She later reappears as a younger version of herself in the Midnight Library, where she assists Nora in traveling to her various unlived lives. Due to the Treaty of Throughout the novel, Nora contemplates the meaning of life in terms that are often influenced by major figures of Western philosophy. Maybe that was the only meaning that mattered. GradeSaver, 29 December 2022 Web. All you need to do is find a way to keep moving forward. But once you sense that vastness, once something reveals it, hope emerges, whether you want it to or not, and it clings to you as stubbornly as lichen clings to rock.. The library described in the book turned out to be different from what I had imagined, although it was intriguing all the same. They were in a band together and their relationship was fractured when Nora decided to not pursue a record deal or tour with the band. Melendez, John. However, I foundthe depiction of antidepressants reductive: when Nora enters one of her favourite potential lives, she views the absence of antidepressants in the bathroom drawer as evidence of a happy life. Like Nora, Hugo is a fellow traveler through his alternative lives. 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. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. 70 episodes. As you might expect, shes terrified properly beside herself with fear but this moment is also the first moment where she realises that she doesnt want to die, that life might be worth living after all. In this library, Nora Seed finds endless books which contain different versions of the life she could have lived. This seems initially surprising, especially given the fact that she seemed to find many seemingly good versions of her life, but the reason for this becomes quite clear in the last chapter. Haigs novel suggests that the purpose of life is to live. We dont know how Nora will spend her life. Learn how your comment data is processed. What is the atmosphere in the short story "Private Tuition by Mr Bose" by Anita Desai? InThe Midnight Library, Matt Haigs enchanting new novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. In some cases, the shift in relationships is more dramatic. 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. Shes lived in Alaska, Australia and England. . "A Conversation About Rain" to "The Chessboard", "The Only Way to Learn Is to Live" to "System Error", Read the Study Guide for The Midnight Library. Before the midnight library, she never took the time to evaluate what she really wants or I want more than fine. Acres of disappointment and monotony and hurts and rivalries but with flashes of wonder and beauty. The library is a symbol of possibilities and choices. This moment occurs at the end of Nora's first adventure in a parallel life. Work hard at it. 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. Long after Nora has graduated and forgotten about those after-school chess sessions, she finds herself utterly disappointed with all aspects of her life. Each book contains a life Chessboard (Symbol). This is the key realization that ultimately leads her to a greater chance at happiness in her root life. *Im sure if I actually came face to face with a polar bear I would NOT want polar bears. As Mrs Elm guides her through the library, plucking the books from the shelves, Nora is able to undo her regrets, by re-entering her life having made different decisions. It became in itself a kind of connection. Nora feels sad that they have drifted apart over the years. You have more to offer. Though this immediate danger quickly passesNora survives the encounter with the polar bear and is complimented for her bravery by the other members of the expeditionthis is an important moment in the book as it shows her definitively deciding she wants to keep living. To be the world, witnessing itself. She eventually learns that her root life is the best one for her. The Midnight Library study guide contains a biography of Matt Haig, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. And don't give a second thought when people mock it or ridicule it. This line indicates that Nora is beginning to learn that marrying Dan would have been a huge mistake and that some of the things she regrets not doing would have turned out poorly. Through the terrifying encounter with the polar bear, Noras survival instinct is triggered, and she has a very clear and concrete thought that has previously eluded her: I dont want to die. Although Nora may never fully grasp the meaning of life, she does come to appreciate its value. And imagining there is just breeds more unhappiness in the life youre in., Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. 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. Nora then begins to hop from universe to universe, testing out these alternative realities. Contact Us Get Involved, uscannenbergmedia.com 2022 USC Annenberg Media. eNotes Editorial, 19 Feb. 2022, https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-literary-devices-are-used-in-the-midnight-3023590. What does the chessboard symbolize in the novel? WebThe Midnight Library Symbols & Objects. 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. This would not have been a problem had there been more to the main character. The novel opens with her playing chess with Nora and talking about the possibilities of life. Copyright 1999 - 2023 GradeSaver LLC. An exquisite I wanted to be angry about something, to feel excited, hurt, happy. What does the first potential life reveal? publication in traditional print. GradeSaver, 29 December 2022 Web. Reader expectations are HUGELY important to the reading experience, I think. In the speech she gives in her champion-swimmer existence, Nora says that the outward appearance of her life does not really convey the struggles she has endured and that the very idea of a "successful" life is misleading.