Life After Life

A primary question raised by Ursula’s repeating lives and recurring deaths is the impact that any single choice of hers has on her future. In her initial deaths, she is saved by accident, like the doctor cutting the cord around her neck or Mr. Winton, the painter, rescuing her and Pamela from the sea. This suggests that much of our fate lies beyond our control; our survival might well be accidental. Then again, other events seem predestined, as in the multiple times Ursula dies during November 1940 when the apartment at Argyll Street is bombed. Given that chance (or fate) plays a large role in governing human life, the novel asks what power people have to choose or at least influence the course of their lives.

On other occasions, the novel suggests that one’s circumstances are the consequence of choices made by others. The tortuous timeline where Ursula is raped and impregnated by her brother’s friend, nearly dies from infection after a surgical termination, and later is attacked and killed by her husband vividly illustrates the harm that individuals can inflict on others. Later in the book, Ursula’s conversations with Ralph and then Nigel, attributing the events of World War II to Hitler, reflect the extent to which one single individual can influence the lives of many others.