Happiness in The Midnight Library by Matt Haig Literary Analysis Essay Sample

Happiness. A quick Google search gives us the following definition: “a mental or emotional state, including positive or pleasant emotions.” But what exactly is it that allows us to experience a state of happiness? And can everyone achieve happiness in the same way? “The Midnight Library” by Matt Haig indulges in a complex and captivating story of a woman named Nora Seed who travels to the Midnight Library, a place where she is able to live thousands of her alternate lives, after she attempts to commit suicide. Through the novel, happiness is revealed to be eudaimonic, a state achievable only through self-actualization in the long run, encouraging readers not to surrender their true dreams for temporary moments of happiness.

Nora experienced unhappiness in her root life because she never had a chance at self-actualization. We see how halfway through Nora’s journey in the Midnight Library, Nora realizes the reason for her unhappiness in her root life: “Every life she had tried so far since entering the library had really been someone else’s dream. The married life in the pub had been Dan’s dream … The dream of her becoming a swimming champion belonged to her father” (Haig 137). Nora never had a chance at self actualization or fulfillment because she was always too occupied with satisfying someone else’s dream. With the lack of time for self-growth, Nora falls into a state of depression, only ever having experienced momentary happiness through making others happy. The lack of happiness ultimately drives her to give up others’ dreams for her as well. Near the end of the novel, we can see how Nora realizes this herself: “Maybe there was no perfect life for her, but somewhere, surely, there was a life worth living. And if she was to find a life truly worth living, she realized she would have to cast a wider net” (Haig 137). Nora knows that she needs to find a life that will make herself happy- a life that will provide herself with the opportunity of achieving self-fulfillment.

As Nora lives the “perfect” life, a life where she is married to the perfect man, lives in a perfect house, and has a perfect daughter, the emphasis on the need to achieve self-actualization by her real self is strengthened further. Nora experiences a sudden realization one night: “And yet she sensed deep down that it would all come to an end, soon. She sensed that, for all the perfection here, there was something wrong amid the rightness. And the thing that was wrong couldn’t be fixed because the flaw was the rightness itself. Everything was right, and yet she hadn’t earned this. She had joined the movie halfway” (Haig 171). It must be the Nora from the root life that fulfills her own potential, as living a life where she has already realized her goals will not give her happiness. It is the process of self-actualization that matters. 

Finally, readers can see how Nora only achieves happiness when she fulfills her potential in her root life by her own self. A few weeks into her life, we see how much Nora’s life has progressed: “Even though it had only been twenty-four hours since she had asked Neil to put up her poster in String Theory, she was already inundated with people wanting lessons. ‘I teach piano lessons. And I help out at the homeless shelter every other Tuesday” (Haig 195). Nora’s volunteering at the homeless shelter is extremely revealing, as it demonstrates how Nora is striving to achieve her long-term wellbeing through contributing to her community by volunteering to help others. Nora also reminds herself of her willingness to live: “Will my life be miraculously free from pain, despair, grief, heartbreak, hardship, loneliness, depression? No. But do I want to live? Yes. Yes . A thousand times, yes” (Haig 199). Nora accepts that it is eudaimonic happiness she is looking for- though she will still experience small troubles and frustration in life, she is willing to do so for overall, long-term happiness, rather than caring so much about the temporary moments of happiness she can achieve with hedonic happiness.

Ultimately, it is the eudaimonic happiness that we achieve through personal growth and self-actualization that is more permanent than the temporary feeling of hedonic happiness we may experience. We must make decisions that keep our long-term happiness in mind, and avoid doing impulsive things that will harm us in the long run.  Readers must not give up their dreams, and should instead aim to achieve eudaimonic happiness through self-learning and growth.