Introduction of Veronika Decides To Die

The novel Veronika Decides To Die is written by Paulo Coelho that deals with the psychological terms of human life in different aspects. Verily, the writer answered the question, ” is life worth living ?”, in this novel. As it is said “life is itself a quotation”, so of is true, it isn’t easy to explain it well. And yes, life is worth living and it needs some correct predictions. Actually, Paulo Coelho gives some interpretations of life and defined his thoughts through the character ” Veronika”, a Slovenian young girl of 24 years of age.

The novel, Veronika Decides To Die, contains different characters dealing with the same question about life. Veronika is the major one who took the role of making life worth living. She decided to commit suicide by overdosing with sleeping pills, because of her ill thoughts of life. She was unaware of living in fact. The writer brought twist through examining her character Veronika’s life in Villette where she met not with other characters but life itself.

Role-plays in Veronika Decides To Die

After committing suicide, Veronika apparently went into a comma, but anyhow, she survived and when she found herself alive, she found her self in Villette, a mental hospital in Slovenia. Where she met with many things and persons. Zedka was the first character among Villettes, who becomes her friend. Zedka was brought in Villette because she has the misconception of the life of a middle-aged wife. Her character is seen as only wise among the mads who made Veronika understand to spend her time in Villette as others are otherwise she can’t survive.

Dr Igor, the leading man of the hospital, interested in philosophy and psychology, plays a vital role in this novel. He lied to Veronika that sleeping pills which she took for suicide had damaged her heart and she has only a weak to live. He did his experiments on her that works on and made Veronika live more.

In Veronika Decides To Die, another character is Mari, the ex-lawyer, the current madwoman in Villette who was victimized by ” Fear “. She had normal psychological problems that could be treated easily at home but she chose to live in Villette rather than home appointments of a doctor. She felt it would affect her marriage life being treated at home because her husband used to do all her works after her illness. He used to wash her clothes, clean the home, even cook; that made Mari admit herself in Villette so that her husband would live a nice life and their relationship could survive, but it didn’t.

Mari was the one who taught the experiences of living life to Veronika. She made herself understandable that how to go far and far in order to have a joyous in life. She taught Veronika the lesson of not being shy about what had happened because the past can never be changed, thus we need to focus on what we have today. Veronika implements on her advice and tried to go far and far. She put off her clothes and did masturbation in front of Eduard, the young mad man, and experienced a feeling that she never had before.

Eduard, the son of a rich diplomat, his father wanted his son to be like him, a diplomat, but he couldn’t. Eduard was interested in painting rather than studying politics and science. When civil war broke out his parent admitted him in Villette considering it a safe place for the abnormal son. Being interested in art, he was fond of music as well. When he saw Veronika playing the piano , he went and seated beside her to enjoy the music along with a pretty girl having green eyes. He had hardly seen a girl like Venorika ever in his life. They got introduce to each other and play the piano regularly. While they found themselves felt deep in one another’s love.

Veronika knows she is about to die, as doctors have told that due to taking an overdose of pills, her heart is about to expire. But now she wanted to live her life along with Eduard now, she wants to enjoy her life, she wants to experience the feeling of going far and far with him daily. As Dr Igor depicted,” an awareness of death encourages us to live more intensely”, Veronika too aware of death, wants to love intensely her remaining days. Both Eduard and Veronika escaped from Villette and lives a joyous life.

Message of Veronika Decides To Die

       Death is not a solution to problems and obstacles. Life is all about struggling and surviving. Dealing with life is not a matter; the thing that matters is to manipulate the idea of life and it’s aspects. As John Keats says, “a thing of beauty is a joy forever “, similarly, each moment of life is a thing of beauty that can be lived with joy and pleasure as it is last. Live each moment such that it gives you joy forever.

Note: The author was supervised By Mr Farhan Ali Soomro (PhD Scholar) & Teaching Assistant Department of Public Administration, Faculty of Management Sciences, Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur.

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