Death Symbolism in “The Many Deaths of Laila Starr”

In a story that is deeply engaged with the philosophy of death and dying, The Many Deaths of Laila Starr uses the personification of death in the form of Laila, as well as the relationships and conflicts she encounters, to develop its commentary on the subject. #lailastarr 1/12

Laila Starr is the vessel for the Goddess of Death, dismissed from her post in light of a prophecy that promises the end of dying, thanks to the coming of a child, Darius, who will eliminate the concept of death altogether. 2/12

The body that Laila is given is provided somewhat randomly. We know only that Laila Starr was an orphan who chose suicide just as the 2019 class of TI Media Studies were celebrating the end of their term. 3/12

Her embodiment, of course, directly impacts the symbolism of the story. Laila is young, beautiful, has long, wild hair, and a slender, unimposing frame. Like Gaiman’s Death, Laila is antithetical to the ominous and foreboding personifications of death that we often see. 4/12

Though seemingly chosen at random, however, the first death of Laila Starr coincides directly with the moment of birth of Darius Shah, the child destined to end death as a concept. The Goddess of Death, thinking practically, seeks to destroy him. 5/12

From there, Laila and Darius hold corresponding missions: Laila seeks to kill Darius in order to protect the concept of death (and her job with it) while Darius seeks to eliminate death (and Laila of course is death so they’re sort of trying to kill each other). 6/12

At the same time, the innate nature of Laila’s existence (a Goddess forced to live as a mortal) forces her to reconcile with her own mortality and, through it, the broader consequences of mortality in general. Darius does the same as he contemplates his life and the impact of a death-cure. 7/12

After befriending Darius over the course of his lifetime and portions of hers, we find their roles completely inverted: Laila begs him to use his invention to save his own life while Darius instead chooses to die. Each has learned the value of the other’s initial perspectives. 8/12

The ending is thus a little cryptic, but we might reconcile things by suggesting that Darius learns that death is valuable. Laila does as well, but it’s the value of life that she comes to understand and death is required for that value to exist. 9/12

A final piece of narration provides the book’s last words on the subject: “Who is to say exactly how things end? If there is one thing we have learned, it is that life’s endings are bereft of answers. Was Darius Shaw truly visited by death in his last days?” 10/12

“Did that mean Laila Starr had her job back? Or did life resign itself to death and did Laila and Pranah set out to new beginnings on a beach somewhere in Goa? Perhaps such things are better left in closed boxes and set adrift out into the sea.” 11/12

“Perhaps it is enough to remember at story’s end the miracle that it was simply to have lived.” 12/12