Alienation and Literature

Each of the four stories under discussion portrays an individual who is distanced from society. The most extreme form of estrangement takes place in The Stranger, which is in itself an exploration of an individual's failure to make the necessary social connections that give rise to social order. In Raymond Carver's "Cathedral," we meet a man whose close-mindedness prevents him for realizing the human potential of others and his own potential for appreciating the world. John Cheever's "The Five-Forty-Eight" is an example of a man who has nothing but contempt for other human beings, holding himself above them as though he were better than them. Finally, "Hamlet" explores the descent into madness of a man who is afraid of the responsibility for uncovering an evil act.

In "Cathedral," Raymond Carver introduces us to "Bub," his wife, and a blind man, Robert. Carver seems to want to keep us removed from the characters we are reading about. "Bub" and his wife seem to serve more as "types" in the story than real, individual people. Bub's language seems to keep the relationships between himself and his wife and between his wife and the blind man separate from himself. His continued references to his wife as "she" rather than calling her by her name serve to distance himself and the reader from his wife as a real, individual person. He does the same with his references to the blind man.

However, Bub finally gives us the blind man's name when he seem to feel his first real

Related Essays

The Theme of Alienation in Literature .... Bartleby's alienation than Marxism's focus on worker alienation, which does .... and Narrative 'Twilighting' in 'The Purloined Letter.'" Literature and Psychology .... (2759 11 )

Literature and the Human Experience In poems of Robert Frost and in O'Neill's play The Hairy Ape, the picture of human experience is one of alienation, desperation, powerlessness, and solitude in .... (777 3 )

Personal Transformation in Literature .... The common essence of these transformations is the alienation from the rest of the human race which each of these protagonists experiences. .... (2497 10 )

History as Science or Literature .... art: Two generations back, history was a part of our national literature, written by persons .... and from the product of their work in a form of social alienation. .... (1632 7 )

Theme of Despair in Literature .... from his near asphyxiation, he finds himself indifferent to the alienation as such .... the battlegrounds of fiction lie is best answered in the critical literature. .... (7064 28 )

andwriting with her appearance. . . . Her writing gave him the feeling that she had been the victim of some inner--some emotional--conflict that had in its violence broken the continuity of the lines she was able to make on the paper" (Cheever 81). However, Mr. Blake is unable to reconcile her handwriting with her otherwise non-threatening appearance, so he concludes: "Her diffidence, the feeling of deprivation in her point of view, promised to protect him from any consequences" (Cheever 81). Our first indication that all may not go as Mr. Blake expected is Ms. Dent's decision to follow him from work on to the train. Mr. Blake feels he can use Ms. Dent as he sees fit, get her fired, and suffer no consequences. However, he has failed to take into consideration the effect of things unseen. Ms. Dent has determined to confront Mr. Blake with her humanity: "I've been thinking about devils," she says (Cheever 86-87). "I mean, if there are devils in the world, if there are people in the world who represent evil, is it our duty to exterminate them? I know that you always prey on weak people. I can tell" (Cheever 87). Mr. Blake has always believed that weak people are weak in every way and he can treat them as he wants without

Category: Literature - A