By the end of the little novel, it’s clear that Miranda will make a full recovery. Physically, that is. Mentally, she is, shall we say, not ok. She feels cheated out of a peaceful afterlife, annoyed that she has to go on living just to eventually reach the end anyways. (Similar-ish theme to “Rosa,” minus the death penalty and physician-assisted suicide.) “There was no escape,” she reflects.
What I find most interesting about her thoughts is the wizened tone she takes on. She seems to believe that she is the only human to have truly cracked the code of life and see through the facade. Her musings take on an attitude of superiority, as if she knows better than everyone else and their silly preference for life over death.
Her grief over Adam’s death, her feeling of separation from others, as well as her sense of disembodiment after a serious illness are not surprising and nothing new in the history of humanity. She may think that she will never move on, but I have hope for Miranda’s ability to overcome this trauma and live a happy, fulfilling life.
I really like your hope in her happy, fulfilling life. I personally didn’t have that hope after reading this, especially knowing that the Depression will happen in about ten years and World War Two will follow after. However, you’re right that her grief and suffering are not new in human history and that some people have managed to recover from similarly traumatic incidents. As a society, I feel as though we’re already beginning to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Your connection to “Rosa” is really apt. The idea of death as a peaceful alternative to suffering is a through line in pretty much all of our pieces this semester (I’m still thinking about the little recruit). I’m still wrestling with the morality of mercy-killing and physician-assisted suicide, and I don’t know if I agree with either or not. My therapist says that war brings a different context to such things.
I also had hope for Miranda after she recovered because even though she thinks death is better than life, you are right about the fact that this is nothing new in human history. It is easy to focus on the harsh truth that no one is immune to death, especially when you have just lost someone you loved.