The Theme Of Death In Patrick Ness's 'More Than This'

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Imagine your life coming to an end, but as you take your final breath you are, for the first time, waking up. In Patrick Ness’s More Than This the truth is fragmented, only coming back in sharp pieces at a time. In a desolate world, the end, as it is known as, is escapable. In this futuristic, post-apocalyptic setting, reality is hidden by a vivid dream mandatory for everyone. Due to the destruction of mankind and the cost of keeping everyone alive, the virtual world becomes a much better option to deal with people. With the use of flashback, symbolism, and title significance the author is able to express that life does have meaning even when you want more than anything for it to have none.
First off, to get to the point where suicide is the only answer we block out all the joy of the world and let only the darkness of mankind consume …show more content…

Correspondingly, no one can force you to recognize a meaning in life that you yourself aren’t willing to realize. In the novel, the title plays a tremendous part in reinforcing the theme. The title represents the internal conflict Seth has throughout the novel. Seth continually struggles through his life before his awakening, stating, “I wanted so badly for there to be more. I ached for there to be more than my crappy little life.” The title of the novel is reused multiple times to show that Seth is a struggling teen who survives extraordinary events which make him realize that, there is meaning to life. After Seth defeats, “the driver,” with the aid of his friends, he is determined to return to the online world and try to show more people how to escape it. At this point, “he thinks what is forever certain is that there’s always more. Always.” Seth knows that he is a part of a movement bigger than just him. A revolution that he must be a part of, a purpose, a meaning to life that he was blind to before, but now has the will to achieve

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