Monday, Monday

Monday, Monday, so good to me;
Monday morning, it was all I hoped it would be.
Oh, Monday morning, Monday morning couldn't guarantee
That Monday evening you would still be here with me.
Haven’t we all had one of those Monday mornings that feels, as we drag ourselves unwillingly out of bed, just like all the other Monday mornings when we’ve done precisely the same. Unless you are somehow a very lucky person, whose life is full of excitement and derring-do, you will almost certainly have felt a degree of ennui and eternal recurrence. I suppose we should be thankful that we’ve never literally had to live the same day over and over again.
On that Monday, when Pam first awoke with no suspicion of what was to befall her, maybe it felt like just another Monday yet still it was all she hoped it could be. Certainly, it offered her no guarantees, for how could she know that, around six hours later, she’d literally be awaking to exactly the same Monday morning? How exactly did it happen for her? For Bernard and Scully and Mulder the day ended with a bang and oblivion. But Pam’s day was cut short. As dreadful as the day turned out, how must it have felt to suddenly find oneself, standing behind a police line one minute, to be waking up to an unfolding of the same events?
How does Pam hold on to her sanity?
Not wanting to stereotype her, Pam does not appear a particularly educated person with a store of wisdom to which she can turn to help her understand and deal with this strange occurrence. It may be that this is her saving grace. A more thoughtful person would have too many possibilities and theories washing through their minds, with none sturdy enough to grasp and hold on to. Pam, on the other hand, just deals as best she can with her limited understanding; experiencing an existential hell as only a person who is unaware of her own decentredness can.
It also may be that things never being exactly the same helps her deal with the situation. Usually, it is Mulder who enters the bank though we see Scully going on his behalf as well. These small changes may be what gives Pam the hope that the nightmare may not last forever. If change is possible, it remains possible that the whole series of events can change – and, therefore, end.
Pam is not a believer in fate. It would be unbearably cruel if her fate was to live out the same day over and over again, especially one so tragic. Again, the small differences in each iteration of the day provide her with enough hope to believe that fate can be avoided or changed. It is why she tries so hard to get Skinner, Scully and Mulder to do something different. A single act may be enough to change the outcome of this particularly horrible Monday.
Unfortunately for Pam, it would seem Fate has it in for her. It allows the small differences only so that eventually, she will find herself in the right place to meet with hers. It’s an interesting notion for, while it allows for the possibility of a will free enough to make choices, it implies that those choices will only ever lead into the future if they meet with Fate’s requirements. It may be possible to avoid one’s fate if one is willing to live out one’s life in Hell.
‘Monday’ cannot properly be called a tragedy, for Pam never realizes that her choice has led her into this predicament. All of Shakespeare’s tragic heroes and those of the Greek playwright’s all came to the moment of realization – that they were the one responsible for how their life has turned out. Pam never reaches this epiphany. Her dive in front of Mulder is an act of desperation, an accidental meeting of minds with her fate.

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