Nora Seed's Will to Survive in Matt Haig's The Midnight Library

Abstract

Suicide has been widely discussed in literary studies whereas suicide attempt is rarely being addressed; not to mention, its survivors. Similar to other critical situations, in surviving a suicide attempt, one must, before all else, cultivate a willingness to survive. The current study aimed to analyze Nora Seed’s will to survive against suicide crisis in the Midnight Library by Matt Haig by exploring her survival type and psychological strengths. Using humanistic psychological viewpoint particularly Ben Sherwood’s Survivals Club (2009) theory, this paper asserts that Nora’s willingness to survive is rooted and displayed through several mental qualities such as resilience, tenacity, hope, purpose, and love. The findings suggested that first, Nora Seed’s tendency categorized her into the Fighter, the Connector, and the Believer. Secondly, her will to survive was realized by several mental strengths namely Resilience, Tenacity, Purpose, Love, Empathy, Hope, Instinct, and Intelligence.

Keywords: Suicide Attempt, Survivors, Will to Survive, Ben Sherwood, Humanistic Psychology