"Howl" in the Midnight Library

 When I was reading my third-quarter reading selection "The Midnight Library" by Matt Haig this week, the last thing I expected to see was a whole chapter dedicated to a poem called "Howl" that reflected the story's plot. And I couldn't help but notice the poem's strategic placement right after a climactic realization of the protagonist Nora Seed.

"The Midnight Library" is about 35-year-old Nora Seed who is unhappy with her life choices and feels like she is no use to the world. However, when she tries to commit suicide, she ends up in an area between life and death called the Midnight Library. In the library, there are millions of books all featuring a unique life Nora could have lived if she made a different decision in her root life. At first, Nora believes she has no way forward but as she starts to explore more lives, she realizes the "success" she receives in other lives, didn't bring her the happiness she expected. For example, in one of Nora's lives, she is a famous rockstar from the band that her and her brother created during her teenage years in her root life, but discovers that her brother died from drug overdose because of the social pressure of being famous and controversial.

Haig places the poem right after Nora's tragic realization and it creates the perfect imagery and parallel. "Howl" speaks to the reader about the feeling of being trapped and the desperation to break free. For example, the lines in the poem "They want your body" and "They want your soul" illustrates the relentless demand society places on us and the protagonist Nora, as she slowly discovers that there is no life where she is truly at rest and comes to terms that her regrets have been based on the dreams and aspirations of others, not herself.


This is my attempt at poetry of my interpretation of Matt Haig's message into my own life:

HYPNOSIS

Alone in the room of reflection,

reflection captures your thoughts alone,

you start to dive deep into the regrets,

regrets that hypnotize and freeze you

in time.

But you break out of the trance

with the realization,

that your reflection moves with you in the mirror,

in the moment.

Hypnosis has reawakened you

again. 



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