Me Before You was written by Jojo Moyes in 2012 and it was adapted into a film in 2016.
Me Before You follows a young woman named Louisa Clark, who struggles personally and financially after losing her job at a café. She becomes a care assistant to a disabled man, Will Traynor. He is taciturn and bitter in the wake of becoming injured, while Louisa is fearful and directionless. The two seem to have little in common: Will is wealthy, cultured and angry, while Lou is working-class and friendly. However, their relationship quickly deepens, and as the result, Louisa and Will help one another to explore dark moments in the past and consider the best direction for their futures.
The novel deals closely with the issue of suicide. It has been criticised, along with its film adaptation, for its portrayal of assisted suicide.
Assisted
Suicide Controversy
Though Me Before You sold well, its publication was not without controversy, particularly after the book was made into a film in 2016. This isn’t surprising, since physician-assisted suicide, one of the novel’s major themes, is a consistently hot- button issue.
Will’s shocking decision reverberated outside of the book’s fictional world, joining a much broader conversation about the ethics of assisted suicide as a whole and the role of storytellers in talking about.
Dignitas, where Will chooses to go in order to die, is a real place in Switzerland. Since assisted suicide is legal in Switzerland, and since Dignitas allows foreign clients, it receives a small but consistent number of clients from the United Kingdom. Most of these clients are suffering from painful illnesses and choose to die of their own accord before their illness worsens. Some advocates, both individuals and organizations, argue that the British laws against assisted suicide are unfairly strict and only cause those seeking it to leave the country and use services like Dignitas. They argue that people suffering from painful illnesses have a right to decide on the circumstances of their own death, just as Nathan argues in the book when he defends Will's wish to die. Several high-profile cases in past years have drawn attention to the struggles of people seeking a dignified death through Dignitas, drawing sympathy for supporters of physician-assisted suicide.
Other
activists, particularly those who argue for disability rights, are strongly
against looser laws in Britain when it comes to assisted suicide. They fear
that non-disabled doctors or family members might use the opportunity to
pressure the disabled into dying, even when the disabled person has no desire
to do so. Furthermore, they express concern that offering opportunities for
suicidal patients to die ignores the social and political factors that might
make that person suicidal in the first place. These activists believe that
services for disabled people and sick people should be improved in order to
make their lives easier, more comfortable, and more dignified so that they do
not feel the need to commit suicide.
In
her novel, Moyes presents both sides of the debate through various
perspectives. Will, of course, believes that it is his right to choose to die
in order to avoid a lifetime of pain and frustration, and Nathan supports him.
Georgina believes that Will has an obligation to live for the sake of his
family, and Lou's mother believes that Will's family, as well as Lou, are at
fault for pressuring Will to end his life. Ritchie and many of the other
quadriplegic people Lou speaks to online understand Will's feelings of
hopelessness but believe that he should be helped to lead a better life, while
one person on the message board disagrees, saying that the able-bodied cannot
be expected to understand the extent of Will's trials. Since Will does
ultimately choose to commit suicide, though, many advocates for disability
rights expressed anger over the film's release and marketing, and, as a
consequence, over Moyes' story as well.
In particular, activist groups such as "Not Dead Yet" found the storyline harmful because of the portrayal of Will's suicide as noble and selfless. Will overtly chooses to die in order to give Lou a better life, and he encourages Lou to pursue her dreams after he is gone, implying that he can no longer pursue his own.
Disabled activists argued that this message would lead other disabled people to feel burdensome to their loved ones, and made the point that Will's decision and experience are extremely uncommon and atypical. Other reviewers have pointed out that Will's suicide is seen by his loved ones as a tragic, irrational choice, and that it causes a great deal of pain to others.
Ultimately,
the issue of assisted suicide has long inflamed tempers, and those seeking more
information don't have far to look. While Moyes writes about it through the
lens of fiction, activists on both sides of the issue have defended their
positions in the form of memoirs, op-eds, and academic and legal writing.
Undoubtedly, the release of Me Before You and its movie adaptation prompted
people outside of the world of assisted suicide advocacy or disability rights
activism to consider their stances on the issue.
Even today there is a struggle in many countries to have this right recognized. Since many associations
refuse to support this cause, they are also supported by the Church, which rejects suicide because it believes in Divine Providence, defining euthanasia as a serious violation of God’s law.
Alessia, 4scB
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