An Exploration of Love and Assisted Suicide in Jojo Moyes’ Me Before You (2012)

Abstract

Although there are many assisted suicide associations around the world that work to defend the assisted dying choice as part of human rights, it is still not socially accepted. Moreover, societies consider assisted dying a crime, and demand that the law should band such acts and punish those involved. ‘Me before you’ by Jojo Moyes is the chosen narrative to analyze an assisted suicide storyline. The purpose of this research is to depict the reasons that pushed the protagonist to stick to his decision, and commit assisted dying, although he found love and acceptance .over and above, multiple concepts were studied in the novel, such as the conflicts the protagonist is dealing with, and the psychosocial development issues he has after the accident in order for the topic to be analyzed. The novel was used as the main source of data, as well as, multiple books and articles, such as the book of suicide by Durkheim and the psychosocial development theory by Erik Erikson. The results show that Will is not ready to live knowing that his lover is wasting her potential because she has to fulfill his daily needs. In conclusion, Will was conflicted and love added to his struggle; thus, he chose to die protecting his lover from his physical dependency and mental issues.