Veronica decides to die :: essays research papers

Veronika Decides to Die Paul Coelho plot SummaryIn his brilliant novel about the aftermath of a young woman s suicideattempt,Paulo Coelho explores three perennial themesconformity,madness,and death.Twenty-four-year-old Veronika li es inSlovenia, integrity of the republics created by the dissolution ofYugoslavia.She works as a librarian by day,and by night carries onlike more single women --dating men,occasionally sleeping withthem,and returning to a single room she rents at a convent.It is alife,but not a very compelling one.So one day,Veronika decides toend it.Her failed attempt,and her inexplicable reasons for scattyto die,land her in a mental hospital,Vilette.Veronika s disappointment at having sur i ed suicide is palpable.She imagines the remnantof her life filled with disillusionment and monotony,and vows not to leave Vilette alive.Much to her surprise,however,she learns that a fate she desires awaits her anywayShe is destined to die within a hebdomad s time,of a heart dama ge caused by her suicideattempt.Gradually,this acquaintance changes Veronika s perception of death and life.In the meantime,Vilette s head shrink attempts a fascinating but provocativeexperiment.Can you "shock"someone into wanting to live by convincing her that deathis imminent?Like a doctor applying defibrillator paddles to a heart attack victim,Dr.Igor s "prognosis"jump-starts Veronika s new appreciation of the world around her.From within Vilette s controlled environment,she in the long run allows herself to express theemotions she has never allowed herself to feelhate and love,anger and joy,disgustand pleasure.Veronika also finds herself being worn-out into the li es of other patientswho lead constrained but fishily satisfying li es.Eduard,Zedka,and Mari have beensent to Vilette because there doesn t front to be any other family for them.Theirfamilies don t translate them,and they can t adjust to the social structure that doesn t subscribe their individual ity.Each of these patients reflects on Veronika s situation in hisor her own dissipate of epiphany,exposing new desire and fresh vision for life that liesoutside the establishment s walls.Vilette is an asylum in the purest sense of the worda place of protection,where one isshielded from danger.In this case the danger is society.Those who refuse to accept