When we read a piece of literature, we can get so impressed by a story that we do not pull the valuable life lessons from the book. We can use literary theory to pull out those life lessons to use them in our daily lives. For example, when reading the Scar Boys, we see the overarching theme of how loneliness can cause us to seek validation in places we should not. The outcast and the mentor character archetypes, the symbolic storm archetype, and the journey situational archetype evolve the theme of loneliness in the novel. `In The Scar Boys by Len Vlahos, published in 2014, we see a young adult fiction novel focusing on loneliness and coming of age.
The short essay “Night Walker” by Brent Staples is a story of alienation, and how he experiences it, feels about it, and deals with it. He is just beginning his first graduate year of college, walking down the street when he experiences a strong feeling of alienation. He gets strange looks from people and is avoided, like a leper. Elie Wiesel in Night also feels alienation from the people around him, being forced into a prison by the Nazis and barely surviving, going through beatings, starvation, illness, and other horrible trials. Both Wiesel and Staples feel alienation because of their culture and their community, which causes their public lifestyle to be less than normal.
This unique perspective adds a new level of depth to these novels because the themes of alienation and loneliness are
Society’s Alienation from Itself Whether an enrapturing TV program or a few hours spent in the “Car Wrecker place” destroying a car, these activities act as distractions. In a society where an infinite number of distractions exist, people are isolated from one another because of them. In Fahrenheit 451, people avoid acknowledging the existence of their own issues and are encouraged to participate in mindless activities to divert their attention from them. But, people fail to realize the detrimental and dangerous effect isolation has on society.
Alienation is a feeling of emotional isolation or exclusion from others and can be in the form of physical and mental and it is most often a combination of these forms. Throughout history and to the present day, hostility and prejudice continue to divide the human race because of the indifferences of people. Alienation can be a driving force that pushes human conscience to extremes as humans feel alienated from social institutions that surround them. Friends, family, and society can all be suspects of alienation, and for victims, drastic changes consequently occur. In the literary works of “First Ice”, First Day, and Shinny Game Melted the Ice, the main characters experience such hostility and exclusion from friends, family, and society.
In the story “The Catcher In The Rye”, by J.D. Salinger many influences about alienation can be made throughout the chapters. Holden Caulfield is a wealthy teen who is confused about himself and where he would fit in life. Although Holden goes to a private school where he would find common interests with other kids who are in the same financial state as him he is pretty isolated. Holden tends to hate confrontation, throughout the novel and always is about to do something but chooses in the end to not. Caulfield is his own antagonist he craves company but takes pride in his idea of people being too “phony” that he pushes everyone away, he takes his own happiness away and alienates himself from people who love and want to help him.
Ka Her Guy Thorvaldsen Literary Analysis 29 October 2015 Literary Analysis of Alienation in Andre Dubus III’s House of Sand and Fog As we live out our lives, it may be hard to fathom the fact that we are one in 7.1 billion people. However, even with such a population, many find themselves or at least feel alienated from those around them with the implementation of their own doing, some else’s, their society, or a combination of all of them. In Andre Dubus III’s House of Sand and Fog, the theme of alienation weaves throughout the novel as we follow the struggles of Colonel Massoud Amir Behrani, Kathy Nicolo, and Deputy Sheriff Lester Burdon in the custody battle over the Nicolo bungalow. Through the complex plot, carefully-crafted characters, and enchanting writing, Dubus throws us into the lives of these three people observing how they live, how they handle adversity (whether of the past or the present), and how they ultimately find a solution to the chaotic, should-not-have-happened-in-the-first-place situation. As we unfold the lives of Behrani and Kathy in Dubus’ House of Sand and Fog, the theme of alienation becomes evident through how they view themselves, how their families treat them, and how the culture of their society has shaped them and where the society places them within itself.
“...In The Invisible Man, Wells gave us a story steeped in earthly local color, a story all the more vivid and credible for just that reason”(Wagar xiii). A story of science fiction that follows the life of an albino, Griffin. Wells goes in depth with the consequences of isolation and how that affects relationships with other people. The Invisible Man, utilizes point of view, situation, and elements of literary fiction to help the reader envision the life of a man who does not fit into society.
In Ralph Ellison’s novel Invisible Man, he explains how powerful exile plays an important role in the narrator’s journey to finding out who he really is. According to Edward Said “Exile is… a rift forced between a human being and a native place,…its essential sadness can never be surmounted…a potent, even enriching” .The narrator’s journey to finding who he is, was alienating and enriching. The narrator’s journey to alienation and enrichment began in chapter six of Ralph Ellison’s novel Invisible Man.
“I think I was annoyed that no-one had ever told me this kind of thing might happen” (Earls, p.38). What do you do when everything you know is stripped away from you and you are thrown into a new and completely different life? Nick Earls deeply explores the idea of alienation throughout the book 48 Shades of Brown, as the central protagonist Dan takes a journey through his final year of school. Nick Earls effectively recreates the aloneness that all teenagers feel as they journey into adulthood. This theme of alienation from society is evident through the examination of characters, plot, setting and symbols.
Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man perfectly personifies the struggle of being black in America. Every single action from the words omitted or added or the characters actions have a underlying meaning that allows for interpretation and the seeing of several worlds at once, which can be related to the Dante’s Inferno like high the narrator had in the prologue. It seems that the narrator is actually a personification of the erasure Black history and culture, and the creation of instead an American identity. Through several key components: race, invisibility and identity we are able to have a deeper understanding of the racial struggles that were extremely common in the 1940’s and 50’s. Young man, Boy, Field Nigger, brother, son, Ginger-colored
Alienation is an experience of being isolated from a group or a society. It is something that affects people everyday at school, work or any social events. The theme of alienation is showed in The Lego Movie when the character tries very hard to meet society’s standards. In the novel Fahrenheit 451 alienation is showed when no one listens or pays attention to the protagonist. The Lego Movie and Fahrenheit 451 does a good job demonstrating the theme of alienation with the usage of character emotions, feelings and society’s standards and labels throughout the movie and the novel.
Brave New World Essay Kayla Devine Being cut off from what you consider “home” can have multiple outcomes. Most people first experience the feeling of alienation, then come to the realization that their situation can also be viewed as enriching. In Brave New World, Aldous Huxley writes about a dystopian society where many characters are considered to be removed from their sense of home. Linda, being one of the characters who experiences this rift, perfectly represents both of the possible effects.
American literature is the literature written or produced in the United States and its receding colonies and it is, as a whole, the written literary work, of the new England colonies which were the center of early American literature. American drama won the international acclaim. In the 1920s and 1930s, with the works of Eugene O’Neil, who won four Pulitzer prizes and the Noble prize. During the Middle of the 20th century, American drama was popularized by the works of eminent playwright Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller, as well as by the maturation of the American music. American literature is a branch of English literature and independent subject and it speaks about the American society composed of different races and ethnicities.
Fermelita Borre AB1213 Rochelle Igot Philosophical Research Paper What is Alienation? In this paper, we will evaluate alienation and its premises as presented in “Estranged Labor” by Karl Marx. Although the entirety of the arguments he presented in his manuscript were substantial, there was a flaw in one of the arguments he presented in the types of of alienation, the estrangement of the worker from the activity of production.