The Midnight Library

Nora thinks of herself as a black hole, which is a “dying star, collapsing in on itself” (13). Nora first sees the black hole imagery at the newsstand before she attempts suicide, and she attributes her failures to a dying, collapsing life. The black hole imagery is on the cover of a National Geographic issue that appears in several of Nora’s lives as a motif for failure, but also as an overarching symbol for despair.

A volcano symbolizes new life, and Nora juxtaposes this symbol of fiery newness with her previous life symbol of the black hole. At the end of the novel, Nora looks at a National Geographic given to her by her brother. While looking at the Krakatoa volcano, Nora remembers that volcanoes are both generative and destructive: When lava cools, it “breaks down over time to become soil—rich, fertile soil” (286). As a symbolic volcano, Nora allows newness to take hold and grow new life within herself.