Journal LAKON: Reflection Role of Society in Suicide Phenomenon

Suicide is a social phenomenon that individuals often experience. Suicide can also be interpreted as an instinct to injure and even end one’s life in the hope that this will solve all problems. The forms of suicide that are often encountered vary, such as: shooting oneself, slashing one’s wrist, hanging oneself, taking drugs, and the most common is jumping from a height.

Usually, individuals who commit suicide experience suffering in their lives. This is sometimes caused by interactions and societal expectations that are too high or too low. So, not infrequently, people choose suicide as the best solution. However, recently many people have judged that suicide occurs due to individual psychological disorders, so suicide act is entirely the fault of each individual.

Even though suicide is an event that takes an individual’s life, social interaction and the rules that exist in a society strongly influence an individual’s life. Suicide is not only the individual’s responsibility but also the role of the community in influencing or shaping feelings, thoughts, and actions performed by each individual.

Individuals have an unavoidable attachment to the surrounding community. Indirectly, the interactions between an individual and a particular community influence the formation and development of individual behaviour, thoughts and mentality, including the decision to commit suicide.

In a case study, when an individual feels unable to carry out the prevailing norms, meet society’s expectations, or interact appropriately, she tends to experience feelings that interfere with her life. Thus, this feeling becomes the trigger for an individual to decide to commit suicide.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (Source: Instagram account @leslielindsay1)

The phenomenon of suicide is also widely narrated in novels, one of which is the novel ‘The Midnight Library by Matt Haig’ which will be published in 2021. The book tells of a female character named Nora Seed, who lost her family and loved ones and even experienced chaos with her job. With various frames of painful events that don’t stop hitting, Nora is unable to survive in a life that is too cramped to live. She ends up deciding to commit suicide.

This study was carried out by Novi Fatati Syihamun Nahdiyah, who wrote about it in an article entitled “The Influence of Society in Committing Suicide in The Midnight Library Novel by Matt Haig”. The study revealed that Nora’s suicide was influenced by two social factors: egoistic and fatalistic.

Egoistic Suicide

This phenomenon is a social relationship in a society that is not too attached to an individual or has low integration. An individual experiences loneliness and feels alone because the community environment cannot support and accept her presence correctly. No one settled beside Nora. She was alone without friends, family, or anyone asking her to survive.

Because of that, Nora felt that no one would suffer or be hurt after her departure. She blamed herself too much.

On the other hand, Nora tends to be alone. She likes being unknown and invisible. Even, She doesn’t want to be the centre of attention. However, being a winner will grab the attention of many people. People will pay attention to every detail until it is possible to comment on privacy matters in him.

What happened to Nora illustrates that she did not receive support from all parties, was not well received, and did not have an emotional attachment to the community.

She tends to have the potential to feel alone and lonely, resulting in the act of suicide. The individual has no reason to stay afloat. She felt that her decision to end her life would not harm and hurt others. Therefore, an individual who wants to commit suicide considers there is no problem if she has to end her life.

Fatalistic Suicide

Fatalistic suicide is an act of suicide resulting from values and norms that are too high in society. These high values and standards cause an individual’s powerlessness, and whether we like it or not, the individual is forced to submit and submit. Therefore, an individual feels too regulated and constrained to block the future and personal desires hampered by excessive discipline. An individual will think she is not free to choose and determine her life.

In research conducted by Novi, she provides detailed data on how society perceives that the ideal role of women is to give birth to children or have a partner. Then another expectation is that an individual is said to be extraordinary when she has an intelligent brain and has achievements such as being a winner in the Olympics.

When Nora has worked for years in a shop in the countryside, it is considered a life that is not worth sustaining on an ongoing basis. The societal values regarding what is appropriate and inappropriate, appropriate and inappropriate, reasonable and not suitable, make a standard in human life.

Novi also tries to show the standardization or idealization that has been set by society so that it puts tremendous pressure on an individual. To be well-received, the individual must meet society’s expectations by doing something big and becoming extraordinary.

Therefore, when an individual feels that she does not meet the criteria of people in general, she will feel failure, regret, and lamentation in life. This situation has the potential for an individual to commit suicide.