Best summary PDF, themes, and quotes. date the date you are citing the material. Symbolism In Night By Elie Wiesel - 1614 Words | Internet Public Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. The Question and Answer section for The Midnight Library is a great Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. It also shows her that her choices often have surprising outcomes. What does the first potential life reveal? The Midnight Library is available from NLB Overdrive and copies can also be bought from retailers such as Amazon. One square after another. WebA symbol can be an object, a sound, or a bodily sensation. The Midnight Library Tackles Regret and Choices in a Quirky Way We are as completely and utterly alive as we are in any other life and have access to the same emotional spectrum.. Leave a comment and let me know. He is depicted as pushing her to work hard and pressuring her to try to compete in the Olympics. Maybe even the most seemingly perfectly intense or worthwhile lives ultimately felt the same. 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. This Study Guide consists of approximately 50 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and At the beginning of the story, Nora is playing chess with Mrs. Elm, who remarks to her that her life is full of possibility. Cloud State University M.A. But there are also limitations to this style of narration. How did it make you feel? Throughout the novel, readers cant help but question their past decisions, both major and minor, along with Nora. The library allows Nora to reverse her regrets and pursue different iterations of her existence. T he main themes in The Midnight Library are choice and regret, philosophy and the meaning of life, and relationships and forgiveness. Just as, she supposed, it is hard to have a sense of the vastness inside any one person. . In a parallel life, they are happily married. There are so many versions of you out there. 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. 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. 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. These figures appear as both brief references and conspicuous plot points: her cat is named Voltaire; she contemplates Bertrand Russells perspective on life and his many infidelities; and in one life, a favorite line from Thoreau is tattooed on her forearm. There are lives where you make different choices. 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. Finally, there are plenty of allusions in this novel. This whole place exists because of you. Best summary PDF, themes, and quotes. The theme chosen really is a fantastic one. The library offers her the chance to reflect on her life and her regrets and to try different lives, lives where shed made different choices. Elm is the librarian from Nora's elementary school days. She imagined accepting it all, the way she accepted nature, the way she accepted a glacier or a puffin or the breach of a whale. Acceptance, posits Haig, is freedom, and this masterful novel is a more powerful guide to self-acceptance than any self-help book. 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 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. Welcome back. The Midnight Library is a fantasy novel by Matt Haig, published on 13 August 2020 by Canongate Books. "The Midnight Library - Themes" eNotes Publishing in The Midnight Library Work hard at it. Maybe that was the only meaning that mattered. 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. 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. Her discoveries ultimatelyprove life-affirming in Matt Haigs dazzling fantasy. Christian Science Monitor, Charminga celebration of the ordinary: ordinary revelations, ordinary people, and the infinity of worlds seeded in ordinary choices. The Guardian, A brilliant premise and great fun. Daily Mail, An uplifting, poignant novel about regret, hope and second chances David Nicholls, author ofOne Day, Would we really make better choices if we could step back in time? . How is the idea of success framed throughout the novel? Yet, with every flip of a page, they come closer and closer to burning their own book of regrets. When there is a severe disruption in that power source the library is in jeopardy. Would your expectations have changed, and as a result, would your reaction have changed? WebMrs. Seeing this allows her to realize that Dan was never the right person for her and that she shouldn't regret having broken things off with him. The lessons than Nora learns from her other lives feel less about letting go of regrets, and more about embracing the whole wide range of emotions of which human beings are capable. How does LIFE make you feel? He just makes the whole thing soeasy. In some cases, the shift in relationships is more dramatic. Curl up in a window seat or He is described as being somewhat aloof and cold as a result of his continual journey through parallel timelines. 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." And yes, it is about that the plot isnt surprising in that sense but its about something else too, which Im not sure I had expected or appreciated quite as much. "And within that library, the shelves go on for ever. You have more to offer. "What literary devices are used in The Midnight Library?" At the beginning of the story, Nora feels completely trapped in her bad circumstances. The final line suggests the remaining precariousness of her situation, as she is still just barely alive after ingesting this overdose of medication. To see how things would be different if you had made other choices Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?". She is described as a sweet and happy child. Why does Nora return to her old life at the end of the novel? Mired in this repeating pattern, regret becomes the predominant emotion in Noras life. Easy to wish we'd developed other other talents, said yes to different offers. She is portrayed as a thoughtful and sympathetic person, often thinking about the emotions of the people around her. Long after Nora has graduated and forgotten about those after-school chess sessions, she finds herself utterly disappointed with all aspects of her life. Love and laughter and fear and pain are universal currencies. Aim to look and act and think like you. Whether its through a fictional characters narrative or summaries of his personal experiences, Haig encourages readers to let go of their past and make the most of their present, and The Midnight Library is no exception to this trend. Nora's regrets range from not marrying her ex-boyfriend Dan to failing to become an Olympic swimmer. Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically. Log in here. 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. This is the best life.". The Question and Answer section for The Midnight Library is a great The idea of success is complicated and questioned as the novel progresses. 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. 2. 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. 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. We don't have to have tried every variety of grape from every vineyard to know the pleasure of wine. To see how things would be if you had made other choices . Embrace that you-ness. She takes a bottle, hoping to die, but wakes up at midnight in a massive library. from St. The physical There may be bits you don't like, a few dodgy side streets and suburbs, but the good stuff makes it worthwhile., As Thoreau wrote, Its not what you look at that matters, its what you see., You dont have to understand life. Shes lived in Alaska, Australia and England. He also purchases a Simon and Garfunkel guitar songbook from her at the music store. Symbolism is especially heavy in this story. In her real life, she often ruminates about their breakup. You dont need to be famous or rich or medal winning to lead a spectacular life. Refresh and try again. However, in one of her parallel lives, she learns that he is unhappy with her and cheats on her. resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss thenovel. because a pawn is never just a pawn. 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. You are giving up at the worst possible moment. The excess of fame emphasizes his substance abuse problems to the point of fatality. But in her life as a competitive swimmer, he is alive. While the The Midnight Library study guide contains a biography of Matt Haig, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. As Mrs. Elm, the librarian at the Midnight Library, puts it, You have as many lives as you have possibilities. Look at that chessboard we put back in place, said Mrs Elm softly. Completely agree, feeling all of the feels is being alive even when the tears flow.