Each book is a different shade of green and can grant Nora access into a parallel or perpendicular universe where another version of herself is living a completely different or only slightly different life. Melendez, John. I found the title of The Midnight Library to be particularly intriguing. The idea of success is complicated and questioned as the novel progresses. While Nora sees many different versions of her life throughout the book, the story ends with her back in Bedford. 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. Just as, she supposed, it is hard to have a sense of the vastness inside any one person. Why does Nora return to her old life at the end of the novel? Nora returns to her old life because she has a renewed sense of possibility. This ability, she discovers, is double-edged: in one alternate life, she doesnt let anxiety undermine a record deal before she, her brother, and their friend Ravi sign with a major label. "The Midnight Library - Themes" eNotes Publishing What are the main themes in The Midnight Library? Last Updated on July 8, 2021, by eNotes Editorial. Nora has a crush on him and in her alternative life as a rockstar, she dates and breaks up with him. Nora feels sad that they have drifted apart over the years. That was how she had felt most of her life. You get no sense of the length of those longitudes and latitudes. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place. "Doing one thing differently is often the same as doing everything differently.". To see how things would be if you had made other choices Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?, Sometimes just to say your own truth out loud is enough to find others like you., Of course, we can't visit every place or meet every person or do every job, yet most of what we'd feel in any life is still available. Let's look at some examples of these. In a few instances, Nora chooses lives that are radically different from her root life. She now has a chance to sample some of those possibilities. All we know is shes been given a second chance, one she fought desperately for towards the end of the novel. 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. Sometimes if we fill that lack with something else the original want disappears entirely., You see, doing one thing differently is very often the same as doing everything differently., And even if you were a pawn - maybe we all are - then you should remember that a pawn is the most magical piece of all. I think this is a really interesting, really important hypothetical. Not affiliated with Harvard College. from Signum University. from St. She takes a bottle, hoping to die, but wakes up at midnight in a massive library. It makes for a great philosophical read about the regrets we have in life. from Franciscan University of Steubenville M.A. I dont think I could have picked a better book to kick off this year with, definitely makes me want to explore the other what ifs and not regret the things I may have missed in the past. The sense of possibility she feels as she considers where to move the piece on the board suggests that the same sense of possibility exists in her life. Enjoy eNotes ad-free and cancel anytime. Endorse it. Sitting in a gloomy high school library, she is playing chess with the schools librarian, Mrs. Elm. The Midnight Library study guide contains a biography of Matt Haig, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. You couldn't let a few less desirable parts put you off the whole. The warped logic of severe depression is honestly and clearly expressed, as Haig describes the inescapable feeling brewing in the darkness when Nora sees Voltaire, her dead cat, lying on the road. The closest secondary character, Mrs Elm, is witty, but feels more like a transient character without much power to accelerate the events in the novel. Curl up in a window seat or WebMrs. Leave a comment and let me know. Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?. The Midnight Library is out now in the UK and America. The Question and Answer section for The Midnight Library is a great But amid pure naturesolitude took on a different character. In this storyline, she owns a pub with her husband Dan. Here, she finds herself slowly slipping away, despite wishing she could stay longer, as she knows this is not where she belongs. "The Midnight Library Characters". It's you, Nora. In the first life Nora travels to, she owns a pub with her husband Dan. More books than SparkNotes. One cement-grey book, however, is different from the rest. The paradox of volcanoes was that they were symbols of destruction but also life. We dont know if she will live another five years or five minutes. Then she stumbles on a library with books that enable her to test out the lives she could have led, including as aglaciologist, Olympic swimmer, rock star, and more. If there are two dates, the date of publication and appearance More books than SparkNotes. This whole place exists because of you. Maybe that was the only meaning that mattered. 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. What does the first potential life reveal? You are giving up at the worst possible moment. In Permafrost, one of the chapters outlining Noras life on the research vessel in Svalbard, Nora finds herself musing on the fragility of life after a near-death encounter with a polar bear: Maybe even the most seemingly perfectly intense or worthwhile lives ultimately felt the same. Molly is Nora's daughter. I wanted to be angry about something, to feel excited, hurt, happy. eNotes Editorial. She now has a A symbol is carried through the work and consistently represents something than adds to the meaning of the piece. Writing from lived experience, Haig is right to critically examine the efficacy of powerful medication; however, in a book that treats every other aspect of mental health with such compassion, it is disappointing to find an implicit disregard for what is, for many who battle with suicidal urges, a life-saving and life-maintaining treatment. Yet, it also means enduring the most painful and heartbreaking moments of life. *Im sure if I actually came face to face with a polar bear I would NOT want polar bears. The theme chosen really is a fantastic one. Easy to wish we'd worked harder, loved better, handled our finances more astutely, been more popular, stayed in the band, gone to Australia, said yes to the coffee or done more bloody yoga. When Nora tries to kill herself, she ends up in a library with Mrs. Elm, the school librarian she knew in her childhood. She tells Nora about how it exists as a space for her to see different versions of what her life could have been. Before the midnight library, she never took the time to evaluate what she really wants or 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. He tells us what life isnt through Noras journey, who demonstrates that life isnt meant to be lived to please others, nor is it meant to be spent alone, completing mindless tasks you lack passion for, or beating yourself up over past decisions you wish you could change. "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. Each book contains a life Chessboard (Symbol). Have you read The Midnight Library? This was not the life she imagined it to be. Cloud State University M.A. Look at how ordered and safe and peaceful it looks now, before a game starts. What is the theme of the short story "Games at Twilight"? What do the chessboard, fire, swimming, space, and the library symbolize inThe Midnight Library? This would not have been a problem had there been more to the main character. The Midnight Library is a fantasy novel by Matt Haig, published on 13 August 2020 by Canongate Books. The Question and Answer section for The Midnight Library is a great The Midnight Library study guide contains a biography of Matt Haig, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. Other than the symbolically interesting locale, the story is largely driven by the choices made by the protagonist, Nora Seed. Things begin to get more chaotic. She realizes, too, that she can always make new and better choices going forward. There are so many versions of you out there. Copyright 1999 - 2023 GradeSaver LLC. Eventually facing disappointment with every regret she expunges, Nora returns to the library confused. Discuss the theme of childhood as presented in "Games at Twilight" by Anita Desai. If you aim to be something you are not, you will always fail. And WebThe talented aspiring Olympic swimmer turned aspiring rock star now aspires only to stop living. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. As Mrs. Elm, the librarian at the Midnight Library, puts it, You have as many lives as you have possibilities. Most gossip is envy in disguise., Never underestimate the big importance of small things, A person was like a city. "The Midnight Library Quotes and Analysis". because a pawn is never just a pawn. GradeSaver, 29 December 2022 Web. . Mrs. Elm is her guide, a figure of authority but also of companionship and wisdom. There is also one life wherein Noras long-dead father never had his heart attack, having adopted much healthier habits after being inspired by his daughters success as an athlete. This feels somewhat at odds with a lot of the things we are taught about the pursuit of happiness. 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. Fine is keeping yourself in check, being cautious, not using your heart and your mind to its full potential. We don't have to play every game to know what winning feels like. In this way, the novel highlights how her life always had a hidden potential for change. However, she quickly discovers that their marriage is deeply troubled, as he drinks too much and is unfaithful to her. Hugo references Schrdingers Cat, a well-known thought experiment that exists at the intersection of physics and philosophy. She is despondently lonely and thinks that she no longer has a purpose. In this library, Nora Seed finds endless books which contain different versions of the life she 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. Best summary PDF, themes, and quotes. eNotes Editorial, 19 Feb. 2022, https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-literary-devices-are-used-in-the-midnight-3023590. In this timeline, she is happily married to Ash, a surgeon who is her neighbor in her real life. Joe is gay and struggles with his father's disapproval of his sexual orientation. The main themes in The Midnight Library are choice and regret, philosophy and the meaning of life, and relationships and forgiveness. To be the world, witnessing itself. 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. This means that the novel can Maybe that was the only meaning that mattered. Elm is the librarian from Nora's elementary school days. WebThe Midnight Library According to Mrs. Elm , the Midnight Library is the physical embodiment of a state between life and deathan in-between state. She discovers that all the dreams she thought she lost out on were really other peoples dreams. 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. And that chaos builds with every single move you make., When you stay too long in a place, you forget just how big an expanse the world is. The Midnight Library explores the complex psychological dynamics of choice and regret. Learn how your comment data is processed. . He is described as being somewhat aloof and cold as a result of his continual journey through parallel timelines. What is the significance of the multiverse or many-worlds theory in The Midnight Library. This description lays out the mechanics of this otherworldly setting, framing Nora's subsequent adventures in the rest of the novel. She is portrayed as a thoughtful and sympathetic person, often thinking about the emotions of the people around her. It reveals how exploring these unlived lives has opened her up to the idea that she can make a change in her daily life. This is a must-read for those of us given to endlesswhat ifs. BookRiot, Haig is one of the most inspirational popular writers on mental health of our age and, in his latest novel, he has taken a clever, engaging concept and created a heart-warming story that offers wisdom in the same deceptively simple way as Mitch Alboms best tales. Independent (UK), Just beautiful . Izzy is Nora's best friend. Web Matt Haig, The Midnight Library 1115 likes Like If you aim to be something you are not, you will always fail. The Midnight Library is available from NLB Overdrive and copies can also be bought from retailers such as Amazon. The second is the date of Early in the book, But there are also limitations to this style of narration. 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.