Desire to Live. Desire to Die. Feigned insanity.

While reading the novel 'Veronika Decides to Die' by Paulo Coelho, I came to an interesting realization. That people can have a strong desire to live and at times equally strong desire to die. Some are motivated towards such desire to die by despair. Some by depression. Others by tragedy and hoplessness. But there are people who are driven towards suicidal thoughts by the mere banality of life. 

If nothing interesting and exciting happens, if nothing challenges the person or if the person has too comfortable a life without fluctuations, the person can get so bored with life that the suicidal thoughts and tendencies take root. Coelho says such thoughts are perfectly possible to happen and not that out of the ordinary. 

However, since the wider society is motivated by the desire to live on, thrive and face challenges of life, it brands people with suicidal tendencies as depressed, insane or odd. The society is guided by the normal modus operandi and not by the special condition of these people. 

The book also shows another aspect of suicidal people. Though their overwhelming desire is to die, they also have lingering wish to live that can surface time and again. Such desire of life becomes stronger especially when they fail in their attempt to take their own life. 

Another interesting aspect of the book is to describe insanity as a kind of freedom. Oftentimes, one wants to shout, behave oddly, say things that are not expected from a normal person or even such trivial things as go naked or sleep on the street. But these desires are curtailed by the social norms and expected normal human behavior. Insane people do not have such social boundaries and they can do whatever whim gets them. So it can happen that people who want to show such unfettered freedom can feign insanity. Such feigned insanity can give them temporary freedom to pour their hearts out and do what they otherwise cannot do. Almost comparable to people getting drunk before pouring their hearts out. 

Overall, I found the notion and overall topic of the book interesting. Oddly enough, Veronika ends up not dying and being cured of her ailment by an experimental treatment. 

Tuesday 03 December 2019