Mr. Kipper

Synthesis- Isolation
~
8 May 2000
Cummings
Eng. I G/T

Isolation is the state of being totally alone, unwillingly or otherwise. There are a few different types of isolation, including physical isolation, emotional isolation, and spiritual isolation. Physical isolation is tangible separation from the outside world or from human contact. In emotional isolation, one is mentally cut off from others by one's feelings or beliefs in that there is nobody one can truly relate to or confide in. Spiritual isolation, which often takes the form of fatalism, is one in which someone is inevitably estranged by their very nature or being and cannot be understood by any save themselves. Isolation is a major theme in many short stories and novels.

In Pearl Buckner's short story "The Enemy," a Japanese native named Hoki Sadao faces emotional isolation when he rescues a wounded American prisoner of war during World War II. He is faced with a choice: Either betray his loyalty to his country, or betray the loyalty to humanity that led him to become a doctor in the first place. Sadao, of course, cannot understand or be understood by the American; they are advocates of opposite sides, and separated by an impenetrable wall of ideals. Isolated from the American by his beliefs, Sadao is further estranged by the fact that he cannot confide in any of his fellow Japanese for fear of being accused of treason, or worse. While the house servants know of the American's presence, their narrow view of the war makes it impossible for them to understand Sadao's dilemma. Only Sadao's wife Hana empathises with and shares his feelings. Thus, in a house and a country full of people, they are completely alone.

Leo Tolstoy's short story, "The Three Hermits," illustrates physical isolation in the form of the pious namesakes of the story, who live in silence and seclusion on a remote island. The hermits have virtually no contact whatsoever with humans other than themselves; indeed, they have almost no contact even with each other. In the story, a bishop comes to visit them and becomes the first human they have interacted with in years. Alone on their island with each other and God, the hermits are one group of characters whose seclusion is willing.

Spiritual isolation is demonstrated within Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein through the creature's attempts to identify itself with humanity. While it has life and perhaps even a soul, it is basely different from the human beings surrounding it in more ways than even its grotesque appearance. Try as it may, and does, it cannot hope to fully understand human beings, and neither can any human being understand it. Even its creator cannot in any way fathom the depths of its blackened heart, and if the creature can do the same for its creator's, it does not try. Its horrifying crimes and gruesome murders seem more like the acts of a primitive beast than those of a sentient being, and one gets the impression that even if its form were completely human and natural in appearance, the ghastly anomaly inevitably cutting the creature off from humanity would always exist within. This unchanging isolation, born with the creature from its unholy womb, runs throughout the novel like blood.

Plato's dialogue, "Allegory of the Cave," exemplifies emotional isolation in the pitiful figure of the supposed man who rises above his ignorance and pays the price. After living his entire life chained in a dark dungeon watching shadows dance on the wall and listening to voices floating to him from his right and left, knowing this to be his only reality, the theoretical man is thrust into the sunlight. The enlightenment is sudden and cruel, forcing him to come to terms with the bizarre induced illusion tainting his entire life in one fleeting instant less in time than a breath or a sunrise. After having realised all truth regarding his old situation and at last grasping the earth for the wondrous thing that was unimaginable back in his prison, he is forced back to his old place behind the dimly lit screen to watch the shadows flit mercilessly by. Yet he knows there is more, and understands it plainly; his familiars are not so lucky. His ravings of a "sun," of people that cast the shadows, of faces, make him a madman. The knowledge, such a wonderful thing to attain and such a terrible thing to hold alone, condemns him among the others, and they make themselves aware that it would be better if no-one ever went above again. The shadows on the wall he once named to entertain himself and the bodiless voices he conversed with for hours are obvious to him as lies, but he is trapped among them, unmatched in his clarity and alone in his private damnation. The isolation is a frightening reality in the allegorical tale, deigning to expound upon the supposed plight of the philosopher.

Physical isolation is represented several times in Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End with Jan Rodrick, who willingly separates himself from all other humans for three months of his own time only to discover he will have to spend the rest of his life the same way. Seizing the stars denied his race with the help of Dr. Sullivan, Jan travels toward the strange planet of the Overlords. He knows before he leaves that he will never see any of his loved ones again, and is ready for the shock of a drastically different Earth when he returns. Having spent only three months bored and lonely on the mind-boggling and desolate moon of the Overlords' home, the eighty-years-older Earth he braces himself for is more tragically and wonderfully transformed than he had ever imagined. While the Children flex their strange powers on another continent and the adults of Earth have either ended their existences or let themselves die in misery, Jan lives alone again for years. He plays the piano, reads, and in his own way, is content. He is the only true human left on the planet and does the best he can with the horrifying fact. Save for the imposingly uncanny Overlords, he in fact has nobody at all to talk to. When the planet is unbodied by the Overmind, Jan again travels the same road he has consistently chosen his whole life: to live and die alone. The physical separation from all things human and familiar is Jan's reality for a large portion of the book.

Kafka's disturbing short story, "A Hunger Artist," shows spiritual isolation in the strange figure of the Artist himself as he struggles to explain and prove himself to anyone he can. He is a human, feels human emotions, and possesses a human soul-yet there is something fundamentally inhuman lurking in him. He is desperately obsessed with proving himself to those who come daily to gawk at him, even more so when they no longer come. He is always brooding, always starving, eternally slighted by those he can never live among. His bizarre motive-that he doesn't like any food-only adds more ghastliness to the self-induced horror of what he has instead of a life. His isolation from the ones he "entertains" springs from his nature, from that which he either cannot or will not tear from himself, and colours the story with an unsettling shade.

Ernest Hemingway's novel, The Old Man and the Sea, lingers on the period of physical isolation experienced by the old man as he endeavours to catch and return with a huge marlin. For three long days Santiago lets the fish pull him out into the open ocean, away from civilisation and away from any friends he may have. Listlessly keeping himself alive by eating smaller fish raw, he follows the only result of the daily labour that has been fruitless for months; he at last catches the fish and attempts to return to shore with it, wishing the boy, Manolin, was there all the while. Though he often yearns for company, Santiago seems content in his isolation.

Emotional isolation is represented in the psyche and spirit of Danny Saunders throughout Chaim Potok's novel The Chosen in his attempts to break through the stony wall of silence between himself and his father. Because of his status, he is unable to freely mix with others; his friendship with Reuven seems to be a sort of breakthrough. Through the terrible silence he endures from his father and the beliefs he is almost afraid to possess, he indeed is separated from God. Called a "mind without a soul" by Reb Saunders, he understands the plight of his people in his head, but does not feel it in his heart. His isolation grows even worse when he is forbidden to speak with Reuven. He cannot talk to his father at all and he does not want to talk with those he is allowed to. Danny is miserable throughout most of the novel because of his neverending separation from others. Ultimately, Danny manages to break free of his lonely destiny without having to deny his beliefs; the world awaits him, and he steps into it fearlessly. The years of isolation from his father and from his peers that seemed to be a source of nothing but pain have bound him to his memories and provided him with a steadfastness that will not betray him.

The theme of isolation runs constantly through all types of literature. Be it of the body, mind, or soul, isolation is often difficult; yet, as in the case of Kafka's bizarre hunger artist, it is self-induced just as often. Without others to serve as guides, friends, or masters, one must choose between ascending to God like Tolstoy's hermits, or, like Frankenstein's monster, sinking to depths of depravity that should be unimaginable. As with Danny Saunders, for whom even the painful years of silence eventually became a valuable experience, isolation can fulfil; however, as with Santiago, it leaves one hollow and empty just as often. To be alone in a plane of enlightenment from which one can never turn back, like Plato's allegorical prisoner, is something to be both cherished and dreaded. Total inability to connect with others will always force one to choose their priorities, as with Hoki Sadao, who forsook his country to save a life, and Jan Rodrick, who denied his last chance at the stars to die with the remnant of his lonely planet. Whether it forces itself into existence or is invited, whether it saves or condemns, isolation will eternally remain an integral part of being truly human.