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AN EXISTENTIALIST STUDY OF
HUMAN EXISTENCE AS REVEALED BY THE MAIN CHARACTERS IN PAULO COELHO’S VERONIKA DECIDES TO DIE
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
CAHYANI TRI UTAMI
Student Number: 004214024
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
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I trust that everything happens for a
reason, even when we’re not wise enough
to see it.
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T his thesis is dedicated to
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT
I praise the Lord as I have accomplished my undergraduate thesis. I thank Him for His endless blessing and for all that I have in my life. I thank Him for any help and support of others, which I believe God has sent to show his love to me.
I would like to express my profound gratitude for my advisor, Dra. Th.
Enny Anggraini, M.A, for her patient guidance, advice and assistance, in completing this thesis. I would also thank to Mrs. Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani, S.S, M. Hum., my co-advisor, for her thorough reading and advice.
I would like to dedicate my sincerest thankfulness to my beloved family, my father and mother for their unconditional love and support. I also thank to my sister Dwi and brother Ardi who have been a good partner in sharing things in this family, for fixing the mess together.
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Last but not least, I address my gratitude to my best friend, Widianingtyas Yuniati, for sharing fresh jokes since elementary school until right now; for every single laughter to seize the day. Finally, I am grateful to all my lectures and staff of Letters Faculty for their patience and help during my study.
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4. The Relation between Literature and Philosophy ………. 14
5. View of Existentialism and Existentialist Literature ………. 14
6. Kierkegaard’s Philosophy ……….. 17
A. The Description of the Main Characters ……… 27
1. Veronika ………. 27
2. Zedka Mendel ………. 33
3. Mari ………. 36
4. Eduard ………. 39
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B. Human Existence Represented by the Main Characters from the
Existentialist Perspective ………. 43
1. Subjective Individual ………... 44
2. Choice and Commitment ………. 52
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION ………... 56
BIBLIOGRAPHY ………. 59
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ABSTRACT
CAHYANI TRI UTAMI (2007). An Existentialist Study of Human Existence as Revealed by the Main Characters in Paulo Coelho’s Veronika Decides to Die. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University.
The study of human existence as revealed by the main characters in Paulo Coelho’s Veronika Decides to Die is worth a concern. It contains a description on how a human being perceives himself as a subjective individual who is continually confronted to the crowd. Described as mentally sick persons, the main characters in the novel try to make sense of their existence. The awareness of their true condition gives them the noble value of human life; that every individual is unique with their own characteristic to make what their life would be. Further, the awareness of subjective individual bears the awareness of choice and commitment, where every action done in this life entails inevitable responsibility.
The objectives of this study are to identify the characterization of the main characters in Paulo Coelho’s Veronika Decides to Die and to find out the existentialist concepts of human existence from Kierkegaard’s point of view that is depicted in the main characters.
The method applied in this study is the library research. The data are Paulo Coelho’s novel entitled Veronika Decides to Die and other sources which are closely related to this study. In order to have a profound analysis, a moral philosophical approach is employed in this study. The writer applied theory of characterization, theories of characters and Kierkegaard’s views on existentialism to do the analysis of the problem formulations.
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ABSTRAK
CAHYANI TRI UTAMI. An Existentialist Study of Human Existence as Revealed by the Main Characters in Paulo Coleho’s Veronika Decides to Die. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2007.
Studi mengenai eksistensi manusia seperti yang diutarakan oleh tokoh utama dalam novel karangan Paulo Coleho, Veronika Decides to Die, patut mendapat perhatian. Studi ini mencakup deskripsi mengenai manusia yang melihat dirinya sebagai seorang individu subyektif, yang secara terus- menerus dihadapkan dengan kebanyakan orang. Digambarkan sebagai orang yang sakit jiwa, tokoh utama dalam novel ini berusaha membuat keberadaan mereka berarti. Kesadaran akan kondisi yang sebenarnya memberi nilai yang unggul mengenai kehidupan manusia; bahwa setiap manusia adalah individu yang unik dengan ciri khas yang mereka miliki untuk membuat hidup mereka menjadi seperti apa. Lebih jauh lagi, kesadaran mengenai individu yang subyektif melahirkan kesdaran akan pilihan dan konsekeunsi, dimana setiap tindakan yang dilakukan dalam hidup ini menghasilkan tanggung jawab yang tidak dapat dihindari.
Tujuan studi ini adalah untuk mengidentifikasi karakterisasi tokoh utama dalam novel Paulo Coelho, Veronika Decides to Die dan untuk menemukan konsep eksistensialime mengenai keberadaan manusia dari sudut pandang Kierkegaard yang dikemukakan oleh tokoh utama dalam novel.
Metode yang dipakai dalam studi ini adalah studi pustaka. Data yang diigunakan berupa novel karangan Paulo Coelho yang berjudul Veronika Decides to Die serta sumber lain yang berkaitan erat dengan studi ini. Untuk mendapatkan analisis yang mendalam, digunakan pendekatan moral filosofi.dalam studi ini. Penulis menggunakan teori karakterisasai, teori karakter, serta pandangan Kierkegaard mengenai esistensialisme untuk membuat analisis berdasarkan rumusan masalah.
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Literature describes the reality of the world. Literature and reality have relationships, as Abrams says, “Literary works as an imitation or reflection of the world and human life, and a primary criterion applied to a work is that of the truth of its representation to the object it represents or should represent” (1981: 36). Literature has a significant relationship with philosophy in portraying the reality of life as Magee in his book entitled Men of Ideas stated that literature is often a short of practical demonstration of the principles of philosophy (1978: 150). The basic position of such critics is that the larger function of literature is to teach morality and to probe philosophical issues. People would interpret literature within a context of the philosophical thought of a period or group. In other words, behind every art there is also a philosophy of life which can be expressed and viewed in moral terms.
story. In accordance with it, Rudolf Unger argues that literature is not philosophical knowledge translated into imagery and verse, but that literature expresses a general attitude towards life, that poets usually answer, unsystematically, questions which are also themes of philosophy but that the poetic mode of answering differs in different ages and situations (Wellek and Warren, 1956: 115). During his lifetime a person faces many moral problems. One faces problems concerning his parents, siblings, sex, economics, race, the nature of honesty, promise-keeping, divorce and likewise. No one can escape from all of them. In attempting to deal with these problems, one decides on the basis of principles or one decides on the basis of consequence (Gauld, 1973: 7).
In accordance with that, existentialism is concerned with attitudes rather than principles. Existentialism is more strongly concerned with attitude toward life, and especially an attitude upon which people are to act. Its basic position is that the individual should all times realize he is free. Man should always see himself as free
“Veronika Decides to Die was published in 1998, in which it gained some praises for the extraordinary novel. In his brilliant novel about the aftermath of a young woman’s suicide attempt, Paulo Coelho explores three perennial themes: conformity, madness, and death” (www.literaryagenc y.com). Twenty- four-year-old Veronika lives in Slovenia, one of the republics created by the dissolutions of Yugoslavia. She works as a librarian day by day, and by night carries on like many single women –dating men, occasionally sleeping with them, and returning to a single room she rent at a convent. It is a life, but not a very compelling one. So one day, she decides to end it. Her failed attempt and her inexplicable reasons for wanting to die, land her in as asylum, Vilette.
Villete is an asylum in the purest sense of a word: a place of protection, where one is shielded from danger. In this case, the danger is society. Those who refuse to accept the society’s rules have two choices: succumb to the majority’s perception that they are mad, or struggle against that majority and try to find their own way in the world.
“The novel Veronika Decides to Die is about the interplay between despair and hope, death and life. It is interesting that the word “guilt” is not to be found in the novel. Guilt is not the problem nor is fate the problem. The real anxiety explored in the novel is the anxiety of despair and meaninglessness in life. A novel that starts out as contemplation on the expression of conformity and madness turns into a dazzling exploration of the unconscious choices we make each day between living and dying, despair and liberation” (www.http//paulocoelho.com).
society’s opinion, which label them as abnormal person since they share different conditions as well as point of views. Everyone plays his or her own role in this world. As Kierkegaard says that people are all “lonely in the crowd,” they make a choice for himself what he wishes to make out of his life. Veronika and other Villete inhabitants realize such way of thinking. By presenting his mentally ill characters, Coelho actually wants to criticize people who are not daring to speak up their opinion or do something different from others just because they are afraid if the society will label them as mentally-sick persons. Coelho speaks to those who seek their own comfort and safety by being common majority or people in a common sense, in which the existentialists label it as the unauthentic.
B. Problem formulations
There are two problems that the writer wants to deal with in this research. They can be stated as follows.
1. How are the main characters described in Coelho’s Veronika Decides to Die? 2. What sort of human existence do the characters represent from the existentialist
perspective?
B. Objectives of the Study
The objectives of the study are to answer the two questions above by analyzing human existence in the sense of moral philosophical values in the main characters. The objectives can be formulated as follows.
2. To find out the human existence represented by the main characters from the existentialist perspective.
C. Definition of Terms
In order to make it clear for the writer to analyze the topic, the writer wants to explain term in relation with the discussion in this research.
Existentialism
Mifflin in The Heritage Dictionary of English Language defines existentialism as “a philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile and indifferent universe, regards human as existence is unexplainable and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequence of one’s act” (1996; 543).
Luther J. Binkley in his book entitled Conflict of Ideals, Changing Values in Western Society states that “existentialists maintain that there is no such thing as basic human nature or essence; each individual is unique and must choose for himself what he wishes to make out of his life. The existentialists agree on the importance of inwardness and on of individual freedom” (1969: 127).
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CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies
In this research, the writer uses some criticism on the works as the references. Those criticisms will help the writer in analyzing the novel. There are already some researches conducted about Veronika Decides to Die, although most of them are in the form of essays. Pastor Neal MacPherson in his essay entitled “Church of the Crossroads –Made for Shining” stated that every moment in one’s life is to be fully lived. All things are made shining. Yet, without special moments of brightness and clarity, someone can easily lose her or his sense of wonder. People can easily drift into sameness and conformity. In the case of her expected dying, Veronika discovers those moments of brightness and clarity which then shape the way she sees the world and the way she will approach life. People may call them moments of transfiguration, when everything is made new (http://criticism.com/article.asp?id=271).
down from the moment of transfiguration, and make His way to the cross. That is just the way it is. Veronika in Coelho’s novel, having had her own moments of transfiguration, brought in the face of death, must make her way back to life. She is fearful, just as were the disciples, but this time she decides to live rather than die. She will re-enter life with a sense of wonder. Every moment will be a moment worth living (http://criticism.com/article.asp?id=271).
Other research conducted about Veronika Decides to Die is discussing about Coelho’s biography which is represented by his character Veronika. Rainer Traub in her essay entitled ”Veronika’s Second life” stated that like all books by Paulo Coelho, this novel also deals with his own personal experiences: in the 1960s, Coelho had been entered three times in a psychiatric asylum in Rio. His parents considered him mentally unbalanced because he preferred to hang out with artists and hippies and insisted on becoming a writer rather than comply with bourgeois normality and pursue the lawyer’s career his father had mapped out for him. For Paulo Coelho, born in 1947 to a Brazilian engineer and raised in a Jesuit college, his psychiatric internment induced by his parents is only one among several traumas of his youth. Coelho writes about basic experiences in which his readers recognize themselves along with their own weaknesses, fears, longings and dreams. His new book, Coelho says, deals with the right to be different. “I wanted to talk to my readers –and to myself- about how important it is to fight a few battles, and that they should see these battles rather as adventures than as sacrifices” (http://www.literaryagency.com/archives/Paulo_coelho.html).
from the existentialist point of view. The writer is trying to offer something different from researches stated above by presenting philosophical values in discussing Coelho’s main characters. Therefore in this research the writer wants to emphasize philosophical traits according to the existentialists in the relation with human existence.
B. Review of Related Theories.
1. Theory of Character
A character is very important to contribute to the content of the literary works. Characters are persons who are involved in the stories and who act out in a particular time and place some kind of conflict in a pattern of events. Characters have particular personalities and physical attributes that distinguish them from other characters. They must be credible, that is, readers must accept them as believable people (Rohrberger, 1971: 20).
Abrams in A Glossary of Literary Terms (1981: 20) defined that characters are “persons presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral and dispositional qualities that are expressed in what they say –the dialogue- and what they do –the action”.
According to Henkle, character can be divided into two, major and secondary characters. Major characters are the most important characters in the novel while the second characters are less sophisticated and their responses to the experiences in the story are also less complex.
A character can be stable or unchanged in his outlook and dispositions from the beginning to the end of a work, or he may experience a big change through the story. In Aspects of the Novel and Related Writing, E.M Forster divided character into flat and round character based on the character’s internal complexity. Flat character is created in a single idea or quality and the presentation is without many individualizing detail so it can be fairly adequate described in a single phase or sentence. A round character is complex in temperament and motivation and is presented with subtle particularity. Thus, he is rather difficult to describe and he is capable of surprising us.
From that statement, readers know that a character is called static if he experiences very little change or sometimes he does not change at all. It means that the character still remain the same from the beginning until the end of the story. The action that is arranged in the story only make the character known or allow to be seen rather than showing its changing as the answer to the action. The dynamic character is a character that is changing slightly by events and experiences or activities. It also becomes the purpose of the work or the story where the existence is to make known the result or effect of the actions.
2. Theory of Characterization
Characterization refers to the presentation of persons in narrative or dramatic works by means of characters’ actions, speech, or physical appearance (Baldick, 1990: 34). A character can be differentiated from others because they have their own personality and attributes.
An author may present his character either directly or indirectly (Perrine, 1974: 68-69). In direct presentation, or also called telling method, he tells the readers straight out, by exposition or analysis, what a character is like. The author describes the character directly by telling the readers what people look like. In indirect presentation, or showing method, the author shows the readers the characters in action. The author only simply presents his character talking, acting, and the author leaves the readers to find out what motives and disposition lie behind what they say and do.
be seen through personal description that is from the description of his physical appearance and attributes, which may refer to the clothing or the way he dresses. The author can also give us direct knowledge of what a character is thinking about. Besides of describing the characters directly, the author can describe the character through the eyes and opinions of other characters. It can be through the conversations and the things they say about him. The character’s past life can also help us to figure out the motives of his present action, and the author can give us a clue of his character by letting the readers know how he reacts to various situations and events (1972; 161-173). Those are the ways in which the author makes his readers aware of the characteristics of the characters that he writes about in his book.
3. Theory of Symbol
According to Holman and Harmon (1968: 44) symbol is an image that evokes an objective, concrete reality and suggests another level of meaning. It is a trope that combines a literal and sensuous reality with an abstract or suggestive aspect. While according to Guth (1997: 189), symbols are image that have a meaning beyond themselves. Symbol is a detail, a character, or an incident that has a meaning beyond its literal role in the narrative. In order to fully respond to the story, it is necessary to become sensitive to symbolic overtones and implications. Meanwhile Abrams (1975: 195) defines symbol as a word a phrase that signifies an object or event, which in turn signifies something or a range of reference beyond itself.
the light. Furthermore, the area of symbols’ possible meaning is always controlled by the context. Therefore it can be said that the meaning of literary symbol must be established and supported by the entire context of literary work which means that a particular symbol has its meaning within the story. According to Rohrberger and Woods (1971: 17), the presence of symbol in literary works is inevitable. Some people think that many great works of art use literary symbols because they suggest complexity, intricacy, and richness. If symbol are present in literary works, whether through emphasis, repetition, implication or recurring patterns, it means that the author wants to say something in term of another. Therefore, such a hint should not be neglected in order to get the actual understanding of the literary work itself.
4. The Relation between Literature and Philosophy
The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy explains that philosophy and
Furthermore, literature can be considered as an artistic product. It is said that certain form of writing are universally regarded as a part of literature. It is said that what philosophy does for actuality, critics do for art.
Art gropes. It stalks lie a hunter lost in the woods listening to itself and to everything around it, unsure of itself, waiting to pounce. This is not to deny that art and philosophy are related. Art is not philosophy but, as R.G Collingwood said, “The cutting edge of philosophy” (Gardner, 1978: 9-10). For the person who considers fiction mainly from the point of view of the readers or critics, it is easy to get the idea that fiction is serious, thoughtful, or philosophical merely because some writers of fictions are intelligent thinkers who express their profound ideas throughout the stories. This way of thinking can be found in Coelho’s Veronika Decides to Die since it explores the yearning message about human existence.
5. View of Existentialism and Existentialist Literature
existentialism regards man as fundamentally ambiguous, regarding to the human situation as filled with contradictions and tensions which cannot be resolved by means of exact or consistent thinking (1959: 7-8).
It arouses the reader to a spiritual struggle in self-examination of the things that belong only to human, such as motives, feelings, and hopes (1959: 5). Therefore, instead of increasing their knowledge, human tries to understand how he deals with those things that actually cannot be understood solely by reason or objective truth. It requires the struggle to find the truth about human that he can experience subjectively.
Barret in Irrational Man mentions that themes of both romantic and existentialism work as follows: “(1) the alienation and strangeness of man in this world; (2) the contradictories, feebleness and contingency of human existence; (3) the central and overwhelming reality of time for man who has lost his anchorage in the eternal” (1962: 64). It is also explained that existential literature stresses “the fact that men are not determined a priory, but ‘exist’. They are in a state of ‘becoming’ within the framework of a certain given situation, and are in the long run, what they make themselves. In this way they escape from a mechanical determination and are free” (Steinberg and Buchman, 1973: 224).
at the center of their pictures of the world and is suspicious of philosophical or psychological doctrines this essential individuality by speaking as it were some abstract ‘human nature’. Some set of general laws or principles, to which men are determined or required by their common humanity, to conform each man in what he chooses to be or makes himself (1990: 190).
In this research, the writer refers to Kierkegaard’s philosophy because it is the most appropriate reference to analyze Paulo Coelho’s Veronika Decide to Die from the existentialist point of view. Kierkegaard puts emphasis on the inner private values and experiences of the individual as the ultimate reality of human experience (Binkley, 1969: 127). In other words, Kierkegaard stresses the importance of subjectivity. A human being is an individual who continually makes free choices as well as confronts to the “crowd” (Gauld, 1973: 67). By presenting his characters as individual with their unique point of view in seeing the world, Coelho seems to propose the importance of subjectivity. Coelho depicts his characters as persons who try to overcome problems with their own ways. Each characters on the story judges the problem they face from their own perspective. Their way of thinking, therefore, yields one major theme that individual is unique whose free choice bears responsibility on the very personal point of view.
6. Kierkegaard’s philosophy
a. The Subjective Individual
criticism of the accepted institutions and philosophies of our time. Among those ideas is that a human being is an individual, one who continually makes free choices. Kierkegaard chooses for his own epitaph the words, “That individual,” thus showing his emphasis upon the existential subjects. He opposes the “single one” (the true individual) to “the Crowd” (which he equates with the untruth).
The crowd, in fact, is composed of individuals; it must therefore be in every man’s power to become what he is, an individual. From becoming individual no one, no one at all, is excluded, except he who exc ludes himself by becoming the crowd (Gauld and Truitt, 1973: 71).
From the quotation above we can see that as human being is seen as a true individual with the full authority of making his/life to be what he/she really want. The individual does not need to force himself/herself to be the same as others, since it signifies untruth. Existence entirely belongs to the individual alone, and it is the individual who makes his essence by his own free choices. The man who freely chooses his own life and destiny, who make himself, is distinguished from the man who drifts with the crowd and from the man who tries to evade any responsibility he has.
purely and simply a human being is more significant thing than playing the society game in this fashion. To be a particular individual is world-historically absolutely nothing –and yet, this is the only true and highest significant of a human being, so much higher as to make every other significant illusory” (Gauld and Truitt, 1973: 73).
In a similar fashion, David E Roberts in his book Existentialism and Religious Belief defines existentialism as a protest “against those intellectual and social forces
which are destroying freedom. It calls men away from stifling abstractions and autonomic conformity (1959: 4). “Existentialism takes us to the most basic human problems such as the problems to be a self, the use of freedom and how we can deal with death. It arouses the reader to a spiritual struggle in self examination of the things that belongs only to human, such as motives, feelings and hopes” (1959: 5). Therefore, instead of increasing his knowledge, human tries to understand how he deals with those things that actually cannot be understood solely by reason or objective truth. It requires the struggle to find the truth about human that can experience subjectively. It means that by experiencing everything happens in life, an individual can realize his/her true nature, with its own strength and weakness. The individual does not need to be the same as others since other people have their own characteristic, which in any circumstances, are different from his/hers.
b. Choice and commitment
choice entails commitment and responsibility. Because individuals are free to choose their own path, existentialists have argued, they must accept the risk and responsibility of following their commitment wherever it leads.
To live one’s life, one must exercise the freedom to create a life. Just going along with conventional values and forgetting about the absurdity of the world is not authentic. Authenticity is to exercise one’s free will and to choose the activities and goals that will be meaningful for one’s self. A responsible person is a conscientious person, which means someone who is trying to do the right thing. However, in existentialism there is no “right” thing. Therefore conscientious means that one means to do something and accept it. One accepts and acknowledges the consequences of one’s action and accepts responsibility because one really intends to do the action.
C.Theoretical Framework
In Paulo Coelho’s Veronika Decides to Die, his main characters share some ideas of the existentialist philosophy. Their characters and characterizations are very influential toward their way of perceiving their existence and meaning of life. Considering that the main characters are the main focus of analysis, character theory proposed by Abrams, Fosters as well as Holman and Harmon are applied to find the important point in understanding the characters concerning with events in the story. While the theory of characterization proposed by Perrine and Abrams is used to support the analysis of he characters’ personality since it is the way the author describes his characters so that the reader can imagine what kind of person the character is. The theory of symbol is used to relate the psychological issue in the novel with the philosophical concerns.
The theory about the relation between literature and philosophy is used to support the writer’s argument that one can indeed find philosophical issue in a work of art. Therefore this research can be done since it is grounded in a reliable theory. In this ground, the writer uses theory from Gardner and some explanation from The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy. The theories about existentialist literature are
used to support the philosophical issue in the novel. The theories are from Barret’s book Irrational Man, Stanton’s Introduction to Fiction, and The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature by Drabble and Jenny. The writer also uses some references that show existentialism on literature.
existentialism and the major theme proposed by the existentialists. Besides, it leads the writer to state the reason in choosing Kierkegaard’s philosophy as the main reference in analyzing the story. Concerning with this philosophical issue, the writer uses many references, among of them are from James Gauld’s & Willis H. Truitt’s book entitled Existentialist Philosophy and David E. Robert’s Existentialism and Religious Belief.
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CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
C. Object of the Study
The novel which is used as the object of the study in this thesis is Veronika Decides to Die written by a Brazilian author, Paulo Coelho. According to Coelho,
Veronika Decides to Die was firstly published in Brazil in 1998. Then it was
translated into many languages. Among them are English, French, Italian, German, Swedish, Polish, Chinese, Japanese, Norwegian (www.paulocoelho.com). In this research, the writer uses the first United States edition which is translated from the Portuguese by Margaret Jull Costa. The novel was published by HarperCollins Publisher in 1999. It consists of 210 pages which is narrated from the third person’s point of view.
Veronika Decides to Die was sold more than 5 million copies worldwide. It reaffirms Coelho’s success in defining his position among the world influenc ing writers. On 22 January 1999, Senator Eduardo Suplicy read out passage from Veronika Decides to Die to the other senators at the Brazilian congress, and managed
Veronika Deices to Die is very contemporary variation in Coelho’s recurrent theme –the individual’s quest for his own personal happiness. The book’s heroine, a 24 year old librarian named Veronika tries to commit suicide in Slovenian capital Ljubljana, weary of living on ever boring life. Yet, she is a healthy, attractive woman, perfectly clear in her head and in no way chronically depressive. At times, she even relished her life and considers herself a perfectly normal human being. Nevertheless, she decides to put and end to her existence, because once her youth was over, her life would just follow an inevitable downward course; she would grow old, sick, gradually losing her friends.
B. Approach of the Study
There are many kinds of approaches in literature; among them is moral philosophical approach. Guerin in his book A Handbook of Critical Approaches states his idea about moral-philosophical approach as follows:
This approach goes back as far as classical Greek and Roman critics. Plato, for example, emphasized moral and utilitarianism; Horace stressed dulce et utile (delight and instruction). The basic position of such critics is that the larger function of literature is to teach morality and to probe philosophical issues. They would interpret literature within a content of the philosophical thought of a period or a group (1979: 29).
From the quotation above, one may find out that literature has a significant purpose that is to teach morality and to probe philosophical issue. It is due to in the story; the author expresses his profound ideas concerning the way he perceives life.
According to Wilbur S. Scott in his book Five Approaches to Literary Criticism, moral philosophical approach is:
literature is a criticism of life. To them the study of the technique of literature is the study of means, whereas they concerned with the end of literature as affecting man, with literature as it takes place in the human forms of ideas and attitudes (1962: 123).
The quotation above reveals the idea that literature is a criticism of life. From the work of art, one can learn something about life. Literature is regarded as critical reference to see this life; therefore it has power to provoke man to take a serious account in interpreting the work of art.
From the two definitions above, one can make a conclusion that moral-philosophical approach is an approach that reveals the moral thought and the philosophical issue in literary work. Based on that explanation, the writer decides to use moral-philosophical approach in this thesis. The moral-philosophical approach will be used to analyze the main characters in Coelho’s Veronika Decides to Die. In this case, the writer aims to discuss human existence from the point of view of Danish existentialist, Søren Kierkegaard.
C. Method of the Study
In this thesis, there are some preliminary stages or steps applied. The stage is neatly organized and put into order to maintain a reliable and systematic result of the thesis writing. The steps done in this thesis writing are: primary data collection, close reading, supporting data collection, problem formulation, analysis and conclusion-drawing.
Coelho. In this step, the writer did the close reading in order to understand the story thoroughly. Then the writer formulated the problem formulations.
In the second step, the writer gathered some books about existentialism mainly those concerning with Søren Kierkegaard’s philosophy. They contributed background knowledge to this thesis. In this thesis the writer also tried to collect some references about characters and characterization. The theory about the relation between literature and philosophy serves the ground of the analysis. The theories about existentialist literature support the philosophical issue in this analysis.
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CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
This chapter is set to answer the two problems formulated in chapter I. The first step of this chapter is to give a description of characterization of the main characters in the story. Veronika, Zedka, Mary, Eduard and Dr. Igor are regarded as the main characters, in which they involve in most of the story and reveal the key issue in the story. The second step is to reveal existentialist philosophy through Coelho’s main characters. To do this, Kierkegaard’s philosophical thought is employed to help revealing Coelho’s existentialist idea.
A.The Description of the Main Characters
Veronika Decides to Die is categorized as a critical work of art, in which Coelho takes a sharp look about life by presenting his mentally- ill characters. Most of the events in the story take place in an asylum named Villete. It is the paradise for the lunatics since they can do anything they want without irritating others since they share common condition. Of the five characters who will be discussed in the analysis, Dr. Igor is the only normal person. By presenting the two contradictory conditions, Coelho seems to question life under the very different circumstances.
1. Veronika
However, she decided to end her life in a small hotel room. Besides her good physical appearance, there is no apparent reason that she wants to end her life. There is no depression, no chronic illness, and no traumatic events that have taken a toll on her. On the surface, she is simply bored with living. She is incapable of finding meaning in a culture which appears to be caught up in purposelessness, soulless routine and pervasive conformity.
“Two very simple reasons lay behind her decision to die….The first reason: everything in her life was the same….She wo uld gain nothing by continuing to live; indeed, the like hood of suffering would only increase. The second reason was more philosophical:…she was aware of what was going on in the world. Everything was wrong, and she had no way of putting the things right – that gave her a sense of powerlessness” (1999: 6-7).
From the quotation above, Veronika suffers inner conflicts. It leads her to her boredom either with her own routine or everything in this world, while she knows nothing to make it better.
Veronika is a girl who always takes everything for granted. She is a person who has no courage to do some cha llenging things in her life. When she decides to get a job, she rejects a tempting offer from a company that has just been set up in her recently created country. She prefers to have a job at the public library, where she does not earn much money but she is secure. Such characteristic can also be found in Veronika’s daily life where she wants to lead a secure life by not involving in a conflict with somebody else.
“She had thought herself to give men s precise amount of pleasure; never more, never less, only what was necessary. She didn’t get angry with anyone, because that would mean having to react, having to do battle with the enemy and then having to face unforeseen consequences, such as vengeance. When she had achieved almost everything she wanted in life, she had reached the conclusion that her existence had no meaning, because everyday is the same. And she had decided to die” (1999: 44-45).
Veronika always tries to lead a “neat” life by doing only what is necessary without being angry with anyone, which means having to state her arguments and face the consequences.
The boredom faced by Veronika makes her become a skeptical person. She hates almost everything in her life: herself and the world. Then she starts to feel hatred for the person she loves most in the world, her mother, a good wife who dedicates all her life to the family. Veronika hates the love she has been given because it has asked for nothing in return. For Veronika, it seems to trap herself in a way of life in which there lies all her mother’s hope and expectation. It sometimes demands sacrifice where she has to give up everything she has dreamed for herself.
Thinking that her mother has loved her unconditionally and set her the best example, Veronika feels burdened to pay for the love she has received from her mother. It can only be done by obeying what her mother tells her to do. Veronika thinks that following her mother’s expectation means doing something to satisfy her mother’s desire, which is in fact, contrary to what she dreams in her life.
In her interior monologue, Veronika tries to speak to herself that her mother, after knowing her suicide attempt, will tell her that she should have been the same as everyone else since things are not as complicated as she thinks they are. In order to please her mother, she will marry a man whom she obliges herself to love. When everything goes wrong and she has used up all her energy to fight against those problems, she will start to think that it is best to accept life as it really is and not as she imagines it to be. She thinks her mother is right. Finally one day she will reach the conclusion that it is what life is like. There is no point worrying about, nothing will change and she will accept it.
Veronika mainly hates the way she has lived her life, never bothering to discover the hundreds of other Veronikas who live inside her and who are interesting, crazy, serious, brave, and bold. She actually realizes that she has to fight for herself, but she has no courage to face the consequences.
After all, it is not completely failed. Due to the over dosage sleeping pills she takes, her heart is irreversibly damaged. The doctor says that her life is numbered within five days, a week at most. Realizing that she is about to die soon, Veronika decides to do things which are escaped in her monotonous life.
“Honestly, here I am, with my days literally numbered….I can’t believe it, I never used to be like this. I never used to fight over stupid things….She had found everything so stupid that she had ended up accepting what life had actually imposed on her” (1999: 43).
It is Veronika’s turning point in which she decides to leave her old way of life. She used to live a secure life. When she decides to get a job, she rejects a tempting offer from a company that has just been set up in her recently created country in favor of a job in a public library. She goes to work everyday, always keeping to the same timetable, always making sure she is not perceived as a threat by her superiors. She is content, she does not struggle and so she does not grow. She even finds herself trapped in a boredom just to be nice to people.
wants them that way. She starts to think perhaps if she had done it differently, she would have enjoyed her life. However, there is no choice, her life will end soon. Between her despair and hope Veronika decides not to leave this world hopelessly. She wants to do something that she desires most in her life.
In Villete, Veronika plays piano and she finds out that it satisfies her ambition which is buried deep down in her life just because she does not want to upset her mother. When she is in Villete, she has an opportunity to play the piano, in which she does it with all her heart. Having known her true desire and her feeling of relief in being able to realize it, Veronika finds out that she, in fact, has desire to live. Finally, Veronika allows herself to fall in love, a feeling that she mainly avoid to experience since the consequence is very great and tormenting. She falls in love with Eduard, a schizophrenic who always patiently listen to her music. Realizing that she has nothing to lose, she decides to experience more about her feeling.
“You’re the only man on the efface of the earth with whom I could fall in love, Eduard, for the simple reason that, when I die, you will not miss me….And since I’m not afraid of losing you, I don’t care what you think and don’t think about me” (1999: 131).
Veronika is completely aware of the condition she faces –about the fact that she will die soon, her feeling, the consequence and the man to whom she expresses her feeling and desire. She then experiences sexual pleasure she has never had before under a completely different circumstance she used to have before.
2. Zedka Mendel
married man and accepted a role as a mistress, plotting secretly to make him husband. When she finally realizes that what she dreams of is just an “impossible love”, she feels depressed. However, high ambition to move on with her life gives her strength to overcome her feelings. She decides to put everything right and find a job. She finds not only a job, but also the attentions of a handsome, intelligent young man, who is much sought after by other women. It proves that Zedka has good characteristics to be counted on. A year later she is married to him.
She was a loving wife and mother. The family leads a comfortable life with children whom she and her husband usually take trip with during the summers. When Slovenia decides to separate from Yugoslavia, her husband is drafted into the army. Zedka is a Serb –that is the enemy and her life seems on the point of collapse.
“…Zedka realized how much she loved him. She spent the whole time praying to God who, until then, had seemed remote, but who now seemed her only hope. She promised the saints and angels anything as long as she could have her husband back” (1999: 56).
Zedka is also characterized as a brave and patriotic woman. When Yugoslavia’s war with Croatia moves to Bosnia, reports begins to circulates of massacres committed by the Serbs.
“Zedka thought it unjust to label a whole nation as criminals just because of the folly of a few madmen. Her life took on a meaning she had never expected. She defended her people with pride and courage, writing in newspapers, appearing on television, organizing conference” (1999: 56).
seem in vain since people still blame the Serbs. All that matters for her is that she knows she has done her duty.
Zedka suffers from depression that eventually brings her to Villete. She then has her treatments and begins to enjoy living there. When Dr. Igor says that she has recovered and ready to release her, she says that she wants to remain inside Villete. It is due to the condition that once in a mental hospital, a person gets used to the freedom that exists in the world of insanity and becomes addicted to it. People no longer have to take on responsibilities, to struggle to earn their daily bread, to be bothered with repetitive, mundane tasks. Everything is tolerated because, after all, the person is mentally ill. They no longer have to hide their symptoms, and the “family” atmosphere helps them to accept their own neurosis and psychoses (p. 53). Zedka, at the beginning has been fascinated by Villete and has been considering joining the Fraternity once she has cured. It is a kind of recovery activity which in fact is the excuse for those who do not really want to leave Villete. They want to stay close to people who seem to understand each other better then those outside Villete. In Villete, they do not risk themselves to be disappointed and rejected. Zedka, however, finally realizes that she cannot live her entire life in a world which signifies her escape. She wants to continue living in a real word. She has learned many things in Villete. She learns that everyone is unique and there is no need to be afraid. She even accepts her mental condition with some ease in her feeling.
Zedka is aware of the mental state she has but it does not make her underestimate in facing her life. She is even content in seeing life from the point of view of her unique mental state.
Throughout the story, Zedka undergoes changes in her way perceiving the life. Suffering from depression, Zedka is finally sent to Villete. There she enjoys the life since everyone seems to understand her that she finds out life is not depressing and demanding anymore. She then makes a decision that she wants to live in Villete forever. Nonetheless, she learns about herself and something she wants to do that eventually leads her to change her decision. She accepts her life as it is with a new label given by people outside Villete namely “a mentally sic woman.” She is not afraid of facing those people because she realizes that her life has meaning and she is proud with it, whatever the condition is.
“But I know that my soul is complete, because my life has meaning. I’ll be able to look at a sunset and believe that God is behind it. When someone irritates me, I’ll tell them what I think of them, and I won’t worry what they think of me, because everyone will say: She’s just been released from Villete” (1999:163).
Her new knowledge about insanity brings her to the way of thinking that life will be much easier for her. She does not bother herself thinking what other people think about her when she does something she really wants to since other people will get aware of her mental condition. Her madness, then, frees her.
3. Mari
has dedicated to give up the tedious, unending job of being a lawyer in order to dedicate the rest of her days to working for some humanitarian organization. Mari and her husband have been given all the good things that life could possibly offer them: a home, work, good children, modest comforts, interests, and culture. She, however, demands a change in her life. She is tired of struggling with bureaucracy and law suits, unable to help people who have spent years of their lives trying to resolve proble ms not of their own making. She wants to work with the Red Cross.
“I want to do something completely different with my life. I want to have an adventure, help other people, do something I’ve never done before”, (1999: 120).
From the quotation above, Mari wants to do something new in her life since she is fed up with her routine as a lawyer. She wants to work in a humanitarian organization in which people try to resolve problems not of their own making. In her opinion, such work offers her a sense of adventure, something that she has never done before. Mari realizes that it is, indeed, a good dream. However, it is hard for her to release her job which guaranties all the comforts she can enjoy in her life. She then justifies it by postponing her dream, thinking that life is about a right moment to act.
her as an insane. She lies to the taxi driver who takes her to the hospital by telling that she is going to visit someone. On the other hand, when she has entered the mental hospital, she doe not want to go back, afraid of facing the problems again.
“I don’t want to go back now,” said Mari. “Even after all you’ve told me, I won’t have any courage t go out on the street. My marriage has become a hell, and my husband needs time to recover from these months he’s spent looking after me” (1999: 127).
Like any other inhabitants in Villete, Mari sees the mental hospital as a place to escape from her fear to face the normal life outside Villete. Mari is afraid of having to face problems with her husband who indeed is really bothered with her condition.
To make it worse, she is fired by the company in which she has dedicated all her effort and career, just because the company wants to maintain its prestige by not employing an ex- mentally sick person. Mari then feels totally rejected when her husband sends a lawyer to manage the divorce he has proposed. She just grants the divorce proposal even she knows that in accordance to the law she has studied, she can prolong the quarrel indefinitely. It seems that the whole world turns back from her and there is no space for her outside Villete. Therefore, she decides not to leave Villete forever since all the inhabitants there are protected from unemployment, economic problem and violence. In other words, Mary feels save in her escape inside Villete. It means that she does not have to face the consequences that she has no job and husband.
struggles to live by trying to overcome her feeling about her past in order to actualize herself. As the consequence, she decides to leave Villete which signifies her desire not to escape from life. She realizes that her true ambition is becoming a volunteer worker for humanism. Then she leaves Villete and heads for Sarajevo.
4. Eduard
Eduard is one of the inhabitants in Villete who suffers from schizophrenia, a symptom that detaches him from the reality. HE is the son of Yugoslavian ambassador. Eduard is a shy boy who cannot easily make friends with others. He finds it difficult to talk to other people.
“He spent the day immersed in his studies, trying –but failing- to relate to his classmates, trying –but failing- to work up some interests in cars, the latest sneakers, and designer clothes, the only possible topics of conversation with the other young people ” (1999: 174).
As a teenager who wants to socialize with other people, Eduard has tried many ways in order to have a nice conversation, but soon he loses interests on it. Even in defining his position among his friends, Eduard attends many parties, just like what other teenagers usually do, and experiments with almost possible varieties of drugs. However, he cannot get very excited about them. The support from his parents to invite his school friends to come to his home by giving him a generous allowance seems to be in vain since Eduard does not do it.
and together with Maria, burns incense every night and spends hours staring at a strange design pinned on the wall. Eduard’s marks at school began to get worse.
This kind of characteristic can also be found when Eduard is in the hospital due to the accident he gets. Eduard is easily influenced by the books he reads during his treatment in the hospital. The book is about visionaries whose ideas have shaken the world, people with their own vision of an earthy paradise, and people who have spent their lives sharing their ideas with others. Eduard then becomes greatly obsessed with the vision of paradise that leads him to start painting. Eduard finally finds out that he wants to be an artist. He enrolls himself in an art school and learns how to paint seriously. His marks at art school have improved. Unfortunately, his parents do not agree with his idea to be an artist. As an ambassador, Eduard’s father has set a path for his son to have a further career in the same filed.
“Even since you were born, we’ve built up such dreams of how our lives would be….I’ve still got the pen with I signed my first document as an ambassador, and I lovingly saved it to pass on to you the day you did the same” (1999: 189).
like there is no way back. That is what eventually brings him to Villete as a schizophrenic.
Like any of the inhabitants in Villete, Eduard regards the life in Villete as an easy way to escape from reality. During his unique relationship with Veronika, Eduard, in fact, can free himself from his symptom. Nevertheless, he does not want to get out from the world he creates on his own. It is merely because he does not want to experience bitterness in dealing with the reality.
“I provoke the nurses into giving me the electric shock treatment, because you get me all mixed up. I can’t say for sure what feel, and love has already destroyed me once” (1999: 193).
Eduard wants to remain live in his own world because it is a save place for him. By creating his own world, he is free from all the consequences of being disappointed and depressed –something that he wants to escape from.
Eduard, however, finally decides to leave Villete and his secure world because he realizes that he has got something to do to make his dreams come true and not to live in the other reality he has created which signifies his escape and cowardice.
5. Dr. Igor
always judged from medical point of view, in which they are assumed to be lack of certain substance in their body that provokes them to produce toxic substance called Vitriol.
“People go against nature because they lack the courage to be different, and then the organism starts to produce Vitriol, or bitterness, as the poison is more commonly known” (1999: 169).
The dialogue is uttered when he is talking to Mari, one of the patients who realize that she has covered from her sickness and wants to leave Villete. Dr. Igor keeps insisting that people go crazy because the poisonous substance produced by the body. He relies the reasoning to the scientific justification instead of thinking that human being experiences certain psychological battle during her life, which leads her to certain state of mind.
B. Human existence represented by the main characters from the existentialist
perspective.
1. Subjective Individual
As it is delivered in chapter two, Kierkegaard’s philosophy on existentialism, one of the ideas proposed by Kierkegaard is that concerning with subjective individual. Kierkegaard puts emphasis on the inner private values and experiences of the individual as the ultimate reality of human experience (Binkley, 1969: 127). Kierkegaard chooses his own epitaph the words, “that individual,” thus showing his emphasis upon the existential subjects. He opposes the “single one” (the true individual) to “the crowd” which equates with “the untruth” (Gauld and Truitt, 1973: 71). Throughout his lifetime, individua l learns at least, that being purely and simply a human being is more significant than playing the society game in this fashion (Gauld and Truitt, 1973: 73). Existence entirely belongs to the individual alone, and it is the individual who makes his essence by his own free choices. Human being is regarded as someone who has full authority toward himself. In this case, Veronika decision to end her life by committing suicide is not regarded as something right or wrong instead it is her free choice of what she wants her life to be. Every person has her own knowledge in everything she faces during life. There is no general rule that can cover the border of right and wrong. In other words, every human being is seen as a total existence of an individual.
“In a world where everyone struggles to survive whatever the cost, how could one judge those people who decide to die? No one can judge. Each person knows the extent of their own suffering or the total absenc e of meaning in their lives” (1999: 14).
do any changes either in her own life nor things around her, she jumps into a conclusion that there is no point to continue her life.
In his brilliant novel Veronika Decides to Die, Paulo Coelho portrays the life of mentally-sick persons who live in an asylum named Villete. Villete is regarded as the paradise for the lunatics where they can say what they like, do what they want, without being criticized. It is a kind of escape for the lunatics who feel depressed living in the real world. Most of the inmates enjoy living in Villete and do not want to be back to the society after they have cured. It is due to their own fear of the responsibility of being alive or the society pressure as people label them as the ex-inhabitants in Villete.
“Our life has reached a perfect equilibrium, something that many people outside world love to achieve. Not to mention the fact that in Villete we are protected from unemployment, the consequences of the war in Bosnia, from economic problems and violence….We have found harmony” (1999: 197). Every inmate in Villete realizes the advantages offered by Villete to make life as what they want. Veronika, however, is the first Villete inhabitant who does not stay in Villete. She is condemned to die due to the heart damage she has as the result of her effort in committing suicide. The doctor says that her life is just a matter of counting days. Realizing that she will die, Veronika does not want to spend the rest of her life in Villete meaning that she will not spend the remaining time of her life in vain.
“Honestly, here I am, with my days literally numbered, giving importance to remarks made by people I’ve never seen before, people who soon I’ll never see again. And yet I suffer and get upset; I want to attack and defend. Why waste my time?” (1999: 43).
It is Veronika’s turning point in which she decides to use the rest of her life for the sake of her own life. She has nothing to loose since soon she will die anyway. She wants to fight over things that she has never done before in her life. It means that she will no longer sacrifice her dreams and ambitions just because she wants to be nice to other people.
She finds everything so stupid that she has ended up accepting what lie has naturally imposed on her. In adolescence she thinks that it is too late to choose; now in young adulthood, she is convinced it is too late to change. Veronika realizes that she has wasted all her life doing something beyond her dreams and she does not want to waste also the days left in her life.
In Villete, Veronika becomes aware of the importance living her life authentically. Mari’s question about how far she can go in the matter of sexual intercourse awakens her curiosity to experience it herself.
“Veronika decided to do exercise, concentrating as hard as she can could on discovering who she was. During those days in Villete, she had felt things she had never before felt with such intensity –hatred, love, fear, curiosity, a desire to live. Perhaps Mari was right: Did she really know what it meant to have an orgasm? Or had she only gone as far as man had wanted to take her?” (1999: 102).
Veronika finds herself can be far, very far as Mari has said. Veronika then meets a conclusion that if only everyone can know and live with their inner craziness, the world will not be a worse place; instead people will be fairer and happier.
An existing individual is constantly in a process of becoming which enables him to re-evaluate something he has done and know the extent of his own capacity. The actual subjective thinker constantly reproduces this existential situation in his thought, and translates all his thinking into terms of process (Gauld and Truitt, 1973: 73). Zedka first feels addicted to the treatment she gets in Villete which gives her a sense of comfort for being protected from all the consequences of life. She finally decides to leave Villete because she does not want to escape anymore. She is no longer afraid of what other people think of her.
“I’m cured of my depression, but in Villete, I’ve learned that there are other kinds of insanity. I want to carry those with me and began to see my life with my own eyes” (1999: 163).
In Villete Zedka learns that everyone is unique and there is no need to be afraid. She even accepts her mental condition with some ease in her feeling. She will not bother herself to please other people if she thinks that they irritate her.
Crowd is, indeed, composed from individuals who each in fact are unique. This fact, however, is not a justification that other people can impose an individual to the same direction as theirs nor an individual should try to imitate them. The subjective thinker is an existing individual who essentially interested in his own thinking, existing as he does in his thought.
actualizing herself within the society. It signifies her willing not to live in an escape world.
“My reason for coming here was concrete: I was getting panic attack. My reason for staying was very abstract: I couldn’t face the idea of a different way of life, with no job and no husband”
From the quotation above, Mari is aware of her true condition. Her decision not to leave Villete is because she cannot face the idea of a different life. She is afraid of being different from others in the society and that the society will label her as person who goes against the common sense with no job and husband. Her life in Villete, however, arises her inner awareness to leave her life authentically. It means that she will live her life with a consideration about her true condition and something she desires most in her life. She will not let other people impose something to her and will not bother herself just to be the same as others. Consequently, for the first time in her life she can make a decision she wants most. She wants to dedicate herself as a volunteer worker for humanism.
crowd. Eduard represents an individual with an ambition who is confronted with the choice whether he will realize it or put it up for the sake of other people’s need. Eduard cannot stand with the fact that he has to put up his dream. It is something which really disappoints him.
In addition, Eduard’s confrontation with the crowd, in this case his parents’ need is implied by his father’s advice that he has to choose what is right for his life. “Don’t let us down, son. We won’t live forever and we want to die in peace, knowing that we’ve set you on the right path in life (p. 189). In this dialogue above, his father’s statement about the right path in life refers to the common sense about rightness. An existing individual is constantly in a process of becoming which enables him to re-evaluate something he has done and know the extent of his own capacity. Therefore, something right or wrong is a matter of individual experience. What Eduard’s father thinks as something right, in this case to set a career as a diplomat does not absolutely mean something right for Eduard. It is Eduard himself who knows whether something is right or not. Eduard actually realizes that he is lack of capability in diplomatic affairs and that his true ambition is becoming an artist. However, he cannot stand his parents’ pressure, moreover when they claim that it is for the sake of the love they bear to him.
“He wanted nothing more to do with love, he has fed up with the whole business. He had thought that he could just give up and follow his father’s advice, but he had advanced too far in his work; he had crossed the abyss that separates a man from his dream, and now there was no going back” (1999: 191)
Concerning with subjectivity in each individual, Coelho also depicts it through his only normal character in the novel, Dr. Igor.
“Normality is a matter of consensus, that is a lot of people think that something is right and so that thing becomes right. Some things are governed by common sense” (1999: 166).
Being a doctor in Villete who has encountered with many patients’ condition and mental state, Dr. Igor realizes that his patients are persons with complete ambition and desire to live, just like people outside Villete. Nevertheless, due to some reasons, they are labeled as mentally sick persons and excluded form the “normal” society. Dr. Igor criticizes that normality is a matter of consensus, something which is established by common sense. At this point, an individual is confronted with the crowd. The majority has a power to set rules within the society about something right and wrong. As the result, if someone is regarded goes beyond the majority, he will be considered commit something wrong.
To highlight this conception, Dr. Igor also says “Other things, however, becomes fixed because more and more people believe that’s the way they should be” (p. 167). He then says once in the cathedral in Florence, there is a beautiful clock designed by Paolo Ucello in 1443. The curious thing about this clock is that, although it keeps times like all other clocks, its hands go in the opposite direction to that of normal clock. For some unknown reasons, perhaps because the duke has a clock with hands that go in the direction we now think of as the “right” direction, that becomes the only direction and Ucello’s clock then seemed a madness.
Dr. Igor thinks that every human is unique. However, society always imposes on a collective way, which sometimes forces the individual to give away her/his authenticity and just accept what the majority ask them to do.
Dr. Igor even strengthens his criticism toward the society when Mari asks him whether she has cured or not.
“Am I cured?”
“No. You’re someone who is different, but who wants to be the same as everyone else. And that in my opinion, is a serious illness.”
“Is wanting to be different a serious illness?”
“It is if you force yourself to be the same as everyone else.” (1999: 169). Through his dialogue with Mari, Dr. Igor conveys his judgment about his patients’ mental state. It is not merely about a mental sickness. Instead, it concerns more about the way of thinking. He accuses Mari for thinking it is insane to be different and that is why she chooses to live in Villete, because everyone is different there, and she appears to be the same as everyone else.
B. Choice and Commitment
Veronika’s decision to end her life bears a consequence that she will die soon due to the heart damage. She only has a few days remaining in her life. She, however, completely realizes that it is the responsibility of her deed.
“What makes a person hates themselves?”
“Cowardice, perhaps. Or the eternal fear of being wrong of not doing what others expect. A few moments ago I was happy. I forgot I was under sentence of death; then, when I remembered the situation I’m in, I felt frightened” (1999: 66).
Veronika realizes her problem for so long. She realizes her real reason to commit suicide. She is aware than her real problem lies inside of her, not because of life or the world, it is because of her decision to lead a dull life makes her feel hopeless. It is because she follows other people standard and not go her own way. Moreover, in her deeper contemplation, Veronika realizes that it is no one’s fault but hers that her life becomes monotonous which eventually provoke her to commit suicide. “I was beginning to enjoy the sun again, the mountains, even life’s problems. I was beginning to accept that the meaningless of life was no one’s fault but mine” (1999: 96).
Veronika’s awareness of the fact that she will die soon awakens her courage not to surrender to the fate. Instead, she wants to fully live her remaining days. She wants to make a use of them to do something she has never experienced before. It signifies Veronika’s awareness that she herself who has to face the consequence of her deed. She only has present, not past or future. Therefore, she decides to fully undertake the times left in her life rather than feeling sorry all the time and plunk into grief.
