Veronika Decides To Die

Igor is thrilled by the results that his experiment on Veronika is producing. Veronika’s tenacious clinging to life has become infectious; her desire to live again has spread to others and cured them of Igor’s theoretical Vitriol. While he is pondering his results, Mari visits, asking to be released permanently as well. The two discuss normality and how the concept of “normal” is formed. Igor presents his theory: He believes normality is pure consensus and is in no way objective; Normality is equated to the sane while things that are odd or unorthodox become “insane.”

Igor uses the examples of the QWERTY keyboard and the directions that clock-hands move. The QWERTY keyboard was famously designed to make typing slower, so as not to jam-up early typewriters, while what we consider “clockwise” was once up for debate and just so happened to end up being the direction that we’re familiar with now. In both cases, what is “normal” has neither a practical use nor an origin point in anything but social consensus. Igor believes that conformity goes against nature. Mari wants to find her soul; she experiences no conflict or hardship in Villete and thus believes she has lost her soul and a meaningful existence.