Isolation and Emptiness Illustrated in Shakespeare's Macbeth and Berriault's The Stone Boy

how Arnold Friend sees her and does not realize that she cannot see him or his motives. Arnold

“Nothing about Arnold Friend is genuine, except his violent intentions and his skill at psychological and physical intimidation. By the story’s end, Connie understands that she is not the confident flirt she thought, but a powerless pawn in the hands of a dangerous individual.” (Cormier)

Although we never fully discover the humanness of Arnold, one thing is for sure, “He invites fear rather than attraction when he claims to know things about her family and neighbors that he couldn’t possibly know.”(SparkNotes Editors)

Moreover, the emotional barrier that keep Kate isolated is metaphorically compared to, "…whirlwind howling through…" (54), which illustrates the intensity and ferocity of Kate's emotions like that of a whirlwind; thus, demonstrating the power of the emotional barriers. By illustrating the emotional barriers around Kate, Lawson conveys the fact that isolation occurs even if no physical barriers are present as emotional barriers can be just as effective at isolating an individual as their physical counterparts.

Arnold Friend picks up on this instability within Connie and uses it to his advantage. He tries to make her feel loved and wanted by him. He even had “Seen [her] that night and thought, that’s the one, yes sir. [He] never needed to look anymore” (Line 23). He is proving to her that she is perfect in everyway that he imagines. He is absolutely sure that he will not find anyone better than her. He plays to her emotions from the excerpt. He wants her to feel as if she is loved, and filling whatever emotional voids are present within her. He wants her to feel loved and accepted whenever she is around him. He is using the power of emotional appeals, because he is doing his best to show her that he loves everything about her. He wants her to feel safe, loved, and protected whenever around him. He wants her to feel safe because after he assured her that he’ll keep his promise he proceeds to “...[resumes] his erect position and [tries] to force his shoulders back. He sounded like a hero in a movie…”(lines 36-37). He uses this position in order to portray to her that he will protect her. He will guard her and make sure that she will make him happy. This is a fantastic emotional appeal because he is playing to the dream that he is a hero bound to fulfill all of her desires. This in turn allows for the girl to have the emotions to love and to trust

Until she is confronted and controlled by the demon that is Arnold Friend, she thinks she understand adult life. Arnold comes into the story to symbolize her dark side. His smirks and persuasive attitude eventually lure her into his control. Even though he

Firstly, Self- alienation can affect a person mentally and result in a change of character. Many people react differently while experiencing isolation. Through the novel Lives of the Saints, Vittorio Innocente copes with his experience of isolation caused by his mother’s actions by becoming a violent individual. Vittorio describes the

In the period of American Literature following World War II and into the twenty-first century, the writing often concerns alienation from society or other persons. It is crucial for literature to use real life problems to capture the attention and produce emotions for the readers. Alienation is a common occurrence as many people feel isolated at some point in their lives. First, alienation within family relationships can be seen in literature.

He caught Connie’s eye as she was walking out with a boy. Arnold then smiled and mouth the words that he would have her. At this moment you can assume such an action is quite unusual and that we have not seen the last of him. He then is reintroduced when he shows up at her house. Arnold uses his appearance to help him look younger as if he was actually a teen and not a thirty something year old man. Arnold does this in order to not alert Connie as he attempt to socially engage with her. The author has done so in a manner that help the reader grasp the extent that this man is willing to go, therefore creating a suspicion of Arnold and what his true intention are. Connie describes him as a boy with shaggy black hair who wear tight jean, boots, belt and shirt that was worn to show his muscular physique. All of which was typical of the boys in that society. Connie also describes his car; a convertible jalopy painted gold with decals of a phrase that was use by kids but was outdated, a smiley face with glasses that resembled a pumpkin, and his name. Arnold really has his teenage image down almost impeccable. Dressing as a teen is not the only suspicious characteristic Arnold has, his outdated phrase

Isolation revealed in two literary works. In many works that we have read isolation is a found in a lot of them. Two different literary works that implicate isolation are “To build a fire” and “The Scarlet letter”. Isolation in the literary work “To build a fire” is exemplified when the man and his dog go up north to search for gold in the worst weather conditions.

reader can easily see demonstrated the effects of the alienation and loneliness both of the main

Isolation - a complete, or near-complete lack of contact with people or society. People can either ostracise you, deliberately shunning you out, which is mainly the type which can be found in the books which we have studied, or it can be very accidental. From The Dubliners, a collection of short stories, I have selected two that I feel can be related to themes of isolation and withdrawal: First, The Dead, written by James Joyce, set in Edwardian Dublin, and like Of Mice and Men, it contains strong themes of isolation, primarily between the two main characters, Gretta and Gabriel Conroy. Joyce presents Gabriel as being very out of control of the situation, and although in close proximity to his wife, they are both in very different worlds; very apart. In Eveline, she doesn’t have any say on what she does with her life, often she finds herself isolated from her family, and is limited by the moral contexts restricting women at the time. The book Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, and set in rural southern California during the depression, follows the hopes of both Lennie Small and George Milton, towards their dream of owning a ranch together; a unique aspiration in a book full of insecurity and isolation. Most of the characters in this book are very isolated: by gender, for example there is only one woman, by race, for example there is only one black character, or even

Arnold’s desire for hope kept

Arnold does not see himself as fitting in with the white kids or native kids when he is not going to high school on the rez. In some parts of the book I felt that Arnold felt that he was turning his back on his culture. Although, Arnold never did that I got the feeling he thought so. 2. Arnold asks his parents: "Who has the most hope?".

The feeling of isolation is made clear by the characters, but it