The Role Of Isolation In Modern American Literature

Isolation, suffering, and disillusion are key themes that plagued the country throughout history. Of Mice and Men, Sonny’s Blues, As I Lay Dying, and Good Old Neon, highlight these themes, not through explicit text, but by encounters and circumstances that crippled the characters, regardless of their cultural background, from 1930-2001. These characters were ashamed to express any need, always fighting to make due on their own. They silently suffered through the pain as wealthier people looked down on them. They constantly worked towards the American dream, even though society kept knocking them down. As time passed, these themes became more evident; revealing that addressing various difficulties helps readers come to terms with their own problems and sets the progressive tone of Modern American Literature. Isolation is an issue that is featured through various books in Modern American Literature. James Baldwin details the period of isolation that Sonny went through while suffering from his drug addiction and the demons he had to face. He wrote, “Yet, when he smiled, when we shook hands, the baby brother I’d never …show more content…
Anse’s constant negative force throughout the novel says, “I am chosen of the Lord, for who He loveth, so doeth He chastiseth. But I be durn if He don’t take some curious ways to show it, seems like.” (Faulkner) Anse is disillusioned. Instead of coming to terms with the wickedness that he put his family through, he determines that the negative in his life is a blessing from the Lord. Nothing that he does is his fault. The death of his wife, directly correlates to the fact that he refused to send for the doctor in order to save money. Cash’s leg will be forever crippled, simply because Anse refused to send for care. American literature is plagued with obvious antagonist, but Anse served as a selfish everyday villain that anyone could