The Theme of Alienation

Paper Summary:

This paper states that alienation, the feeling of being isolated from communities, friends and family, jobs, and even oneself, is a common theme in modern-day literature, especially in the literature of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The paper briefly reviews the theme of alienation in each book: "Notes from Underground" (Dostoevsky), "The Metamorphosis" (Franz Kafka) and "Diary of a Madman" (Lu Xun). The author of this paper feels that understanding alienation in literature is important because of the problems of alienation in our contemporary society.

From the Paper:

"In making the connection between the theme of alienation and pathology, it is significant to point out that in Notes from Underground, the main character is suffering from a liver disease, but refuses to seek medical treatment for it. He knows that this act is only hurting himself, but he does not care. His sense of principle outweighs his sense of self-preservation. He chooses to alienate himself from society at large and in so doing, take some measure of control over his life. However, this control is illusory. The main character may attempt to console himself by believing that he is alienating society rather than the other way around, but the fact remains that the alienation, regardless of its source, is destroying him."

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