Alienation in Literature

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that the characters in William Faulkner's short story "A Rose for Emily" and T.S. Eliot's poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" experience the condition of alienation differently depending upon the nature of the society from which they are alienated. The author points out that the major motif, which runs through Faulkner's story, is the way in which time shapes people, especially in the South, so that they can be at home only in a certain moment of history; after that moment has moved on, they find themselves fundamentally alienated from this changed world. The paper relates that, in his poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock", T.S. Eliot presents a profound image of alienation by using technical devices, such as meter, content and imagery, which is far more explicit than in Faulkner's story and which allows the reader to understand the desperation that his title character feels.

From the Paper:

"While the story takes place in the present, and there is some sense that the future is creeping in even to the South, there is always the sense in this story that the past determines the actions of at least the major characters. Emily's father, Mr. Grierson, is the character most responsible for establishing the stranglehold of the past over the present. Grierson grew up in a South in which a man was responsible for the honor of his family, and one of the ways in which Grierson learned to keep untarnished the family name was to keep up the standards of a past era."

More papers on Alienation in Literature:

• Analytical Essay # 68701 : "Alienation in Literature"
• Analytical Essay # 83852 : "Societal Alienation in Literature"
• Analytical Essay # 12607 : "Alienation in Literature"

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