Veronica Decide to Die

Term Paper
Veronika decides to die
Q. Why does Veronika try to commit suicide? What reason does she give? Give your own analysis.
Veronika is reckoned to be a woman who has everything that anyone could ask for. She is young, pretty, has a steady job and loving parents who made a lot of sacrifices for their daughter's bright future yet, "she was neither happy nor unhappy, and that was why she couldn't go on" (13) .Veronika in the novel seems to question her purpose of existence therefore takes an overdose of sleeping pills which makes her end up in local mental hospital Vilette feared as a lunatic asylum. The world in which Veronika lives in is very relatable to our current life. The futility of existence in which life has no certain meaning but to die is the recurring theme in this novel. Our protagonist faces the dilemma of constantly choose between life and death.
The reason why Veronika does not regard her life is because she is unaware of the, "hundreds of Veronika that lived in her" (57) which she never tries to discover in herself. She never experienced emotions such as 'hatred'(61); she kept on repressing her true emotions because they seemed to her meaningless. She thought that life is not worth living for because every day is the same. She wakes up in the morning goes for job and then to a pub and then later on ends up in a different lover's bed each night, the moment she would reach orgasm she would again feel empty. She never permitted herself to be provoked, whenever she encountered any peril she would "remain cool and distant"(38) . She had given up many of her desires so that her parents would continue to love her just the way they did when she was a child. Even while choosing a career, she refused a tempting offer from a company and preferred a job at the local library and always kept a same timetable. When any one made a remark on her during work, she never reacted because that would lead to expressing her true emotions. Veronika never struggled and thus didn't grow. It seemed as if Veronika created a fortified wall against the world. She repressed her desperate "in need of company" (23) and she pretended that she didn't care about anything. She disguised herself as an epitome of perfection by giving "all her friends an impression that she was a woman to be envied" (60), but in real she was "in a void, utterly alone" (39). So she concluded that her existence had no certain motif, because every day was ordinary and so she decided so die.
Veronika reasons to commit suicide are: firstly, life had a cyclical pattern and was utterly monotonous, thus the only way to liberate her was through death anyway, and secondly, the world in which we exist in was deteriorating day by day and she felt helpless to stop it. "I don't even respect my own life, in a couple of days, I'll be dead what have I got to loose" (54). When Veronika's mother came to enquire about her condition, Dr. Igor explains Veronika as a sort of a person who, "just can't cope with happiness" (70), and that, "People only go mad when they try to escape from routine" (71). If Veronika would have "allowed herself to be a little more madder" (85), she wouldn't have attempted this suicide. The only time she faces sanity was in Villete where she felt that madness lied outside the walls of mental asylum where everyone was following a certain system. Anyone who would break free from the shackles of commonality would be entitled as a lunatic.
When Veronika asked Dr. Igor that if she is cured, he replied that, "You're someone who is different, but who wants to be the same as everyone else. And that, in my view, is a serious illness", this imply that Veronika forced herself for something she wasn't and for that she jeopardized her individuality. Even though these factors may seem minute for someone to commit suicide for Veronika her life was dependent upon it. In her case, "the happier people can be, the more unhappier they are" (69), her life seemed smooth but there always remained a certain emptiness in her, these factors are the reason that she faces existential crisis.

Work Cited
Coelho, Paulo. Veronika decides to die. New Delhi: Harper Collins Publishers.2006.Print.











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