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Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson is a novel centered on loneliness and isolation. Life in a small town is not always as picturesque, as it may seem. Many of the characters in the novel experience the ramifications of being alone. When one experiences loneliness and isolation they often become brokenhearted and see no good that can come from life. The little town of Winesburg is full of frustration and loneliness, and this is seen through the lives of Alice, David and Louise. Alice fell in love as a young woman.
Her love, Ned Currie, went to New York for a job and promised to return one day for her. Alice waited for years for Ned to return but as the years went by her loneliness and isolation grew. She feared that she would live and die alone. trying to force herself to face the fact that many people must live and die alone, even in Winesburg (Anderson 67). Alice was so desperate to be loved that she ran outside into the rain naked and called to the first man she saw. The man she had called to was deaf and old.
This was symbolic of herself because she too had become old and lonely and cut off from the world. Alice was affected so much by her loneliness and isolation that it brought her to despair. From the day Louise was born, she felt as if she was not loved. Her father wanted a son and because of this, he did not treat her, as he should have. Her father Jesse wanted a son so that he could be like David in the Bible. Later in life, Louise married John Hardy merely because she needed to be loved and to have someone to love.
She did not know how to love because she was never able to experience that as a child and so her relationship with her husband was not healthy and seemed to throw her into a state of madness. The town saw how Louise acted and distanced themselves from her, causing her more pain and separation. Louise had a son and was not able to love her son because she alone had failed to be loved. David Hardy was also a victim of isolation and loneliness.
Louise, through her own struggles with isolation and loneliness, secluded herself from David. She did not show him the love that he needed. Only on one occasion after her had ran away, did she love him the way that he needed to be loved. David was confused why his mother was not always so loving. When David turned twelve he moved to his grandfathers farm. He enjoyed life and had fun until his grandfather Jesse forced him to do things he did not understand.
Jesse took David out to the forest to sacrifice a lamb. This confused David and sent him running away again. These events threw David into a state of confusion, which he was lonely and isolated from others. David felt distant from his mother and Jesse. Alice, Louise and David all had loneliness and isolation in their lives. They lived in fear and their fear drove them to madness.
They longed for one thing, to be loved. All they needed to cure them from their isolation and loneliness was someone to love them. Even in a quaint small town where it seems no one is alone, some are brokenhearted because all they feel is loneliness. Something as simple as love was all they needed to put an end to that frustration.
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Research essay sample on Loneliness And Isolation Live And Die
