A Fool's Kingdom Vs Castaway

If you feel lost and scattered in the clamor of the world, go to the sea; you will find yourself.

“The Virtues of Isolation”, written by Brent Crane, states that under the right circumstances being alone can provide significant psychological help. The article stated that scientists often associate isolation with negative outcomes due to it having adverse effects on the minds of children. However, when it is voluntarily pursued, it can be shown to have significant befits—some would even say its therapeutic. That temporarily isolating yourself gives you a chance to take a step back and take a good look at yourself. It alleviates the stress on our everyday lives and lets us relax. That the difference between solitude as therapy and solitude as misery depends on the quality of self-reflection that a person experiences, and the ability to reintegrate into social groups when their ready.

Watching the water glistening and shining was always so peaceful. Your arms rested upon an old wooden railing, which creaked with every movement. You leaned forward to watch a fish leap out of the water, flying into the air for a moment, before returning to the lake. As you heard the loud creaking of the railing, you tried to lean back, but before you knew it you’d lost your footing and felt yourself plunged into the lake’s depths, a scream escaping your lips before water surrounded you.

Loneliness and solitude are two vastly different concepts regarding the state of isolation. Solitude can be described as the joy of being alone and a condition involving peace. However, loneliness is characterized by the spiritual and psychological pain of being alone. It is a quality that cannot be chosen or sought after as opposed to solitude. Loneliness is a state of mind and can occur due to one’s personality or occupation. Throughout Henry Thoreau’s passage, he also describes how being alone does not always correlate to a feeling of isolation. Ultimately, Thoreau’s main ideas are the benefits of seeking solitude, the difference between loneliness and solitude, and how an individual may be alone without being lonely.

I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.” Thoreau is portraying how being isolated from society can give a man or women the self independence they need to find their own individuality. In order to find ones individuality they must find freedom

Sometimes I get bored. Annoyed. Just plain old tired of the same things. How do I escape this feeling? Do I watch a new television show? Do I try a new food? No. I need a place, yes, a place that I can go to whenever I feel this way, when I go to this place I can have time to myself, or maybe with others if I want to bring them with me. With this place, I can lay down and think, I can ignore my phone, hell I can ignore the whole world if I wanted to, just a place where it feels like an adventure to get to and a new discovery when I arrive. I found this place.

Isolation is a benefit if anything , regardless of what people say or their negative views on it. Isolation is a present that’s just waiting to be opened at any given time because it gives an individual a special surprise .The idea of being with no one around for long periods of time can invest in a higher level of thinking. There is no distraction that can get in the way of any thoughts that a person may have. Any possible distraction in life can result in an upcoming failure. Isolation is considered a blessing rather than the negative view that is put on it.

In many of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s works, including Self-Reliance and The Transcendentalist, as well as writings by Thorstein Veblen, such as Theory of the Leisure Class, the notion of solitude and how it has an effect on one’s selfhood and social life is discussed and examined. While, in what will be focused on in this paper, Emerson speaks to how solitude can be beneficial in developing a healthy relationship with a chosen social circle, Veblen warns readers about surrounding one’s self with material people or objects for the satisfaction of another. Given that these are two separate approaches to suggesting to the reader that dividing yourself from the needs and cares of others, both authors suggest that it is up to one’s own determination to discover and simplify what is essential and morally constructive in life. Both authors can easily be assessed as advocating to first and foremost, simply put, know yourself. Once you know yourself, you can then properly surround yourself with people who reinforce a refined, mature and enlightened self.

The novel, Wild, also dealt a great deal with the concept of isolation. Cheryl, the main character, hiked 1,100 miles of the 2,663 mile long Pacific Crest Trail, completing a 94-day journey. Although Cheryl, unlike PI, bumped into a few people over the course of her journey, she was for the most part in complete isolation. She too learned some valuable lessons causing her to grow as a person through her own extreme isolation. Cheryl’s exploration of her own solitude is demonstrated when she writes “Alone had always felt like an actual place to me, as if it weren’t a state of being, but rather a room where I could retreat to be who I really was. The radical aloneness of the PCT had altered that sense. Alone wasn’t a room anymore, but the whole wide world.” (p. 98). This shows the full extent of the aloneness Cheryl feels on the PCT. She states that in a way, she had always been comfortable with being alone, but the extent of the isolation she is now feeling, true aloneness, is much more extreme the the slight solitude she often felt in her old city life. Clearly, being alone in the wilderness is a far different experience, one that she can learn much different and more

Every human being has a different way of perceiving life. Some people love to hang around their pairs, while others just prefer solitude, some are extroverts and enjoy parties and long conversations and others may just stay home playing video games or an instrument without having any additional contact with family or friends. This may be a personality trait but in some cases it might be a biologically different way of functioning.

When someone asked me what does solitude mean? I thought about something becoming solid. That is in no way the definition of course. It means the state or situation of being alone. I never knew that until now. This make sense to me now especially when I hear that a prisoner is going to consolatory confinement which is pure isolation. Now I like being alone but not to the point where I am cut off from having social interactions or not having the ability to go outside. It is in human nature to socialize and be in an outside environment at times.

Solitude is rare in the modern world. Very few people in my generation will ever go twenty four hours without seeing another person. It can be rough initially, there seems to be a period of acclimation, but after a few days, solitude can turn into a quite bliss. Once alone, you find yourself operating on a very simple level. No gossip, no contradictions, and no conflict, just simple, peace of mind. My biggest concerns are rain and finding water. And my greatest pleasures are taking breaks in the shade

Thoreau does not feel lonely while living at Walden pond because he feels at one with nature and finds peace. He finds contentment that he cannot find in human society. He feels a part of nature in his spiritual and physical being. Therefore, loneliness is an irrelevant concern for Thoreau.

Secluding yourself from society can benefit everyone by clearing their minds and focusing on themselves individually. When a person is in a state of loneliness they often develop a clearer picture of their life and who they are in their society. The character Equality in “Anthem” by Ayn Rand, runs away from his society and develops a whole new perspective on his past life and new ways of thinking, but he also develops a stronger bond with himself. Anthem Expressed that being detached from society helps you get a clear understanding of yourself.

[and] so graced by God”. The speaker clearly uses alliteration to express his feelings towards his journey. He also establishes to the reader that he is influenced by a religious motive. His ideas may have contributed to the religious values the Anglo- Saxons believed in: Pagan, and Christian. The man also describes his experience on sea as he , “drifting [drifted] through winter on an ice cold sea, whirled in sorrow, alone in a world blown clear of love, hung with icicles. Through the use of imagery we can understand the isolated setting of the ocean, and how his loneliness led to a deepening sadness. Overall, “The Seafarer” influenced today’s literature through the use of various literary devices. The man’s personal feelings and ideas about