Solitude Research Paper

Solitude, which has played an important role in people’s lives throughout history, is quickly being erased by the changing world and advancing technology. People no longer value solitude, and some people fear it. This claim is argued by William Deresiewicz in his essay, “The End of Solitude.” In recent years technology has developed at rates never seen before. Deresiewicz wants to inform society about how this change in technology has brought about the end of solitude, which has had negative effects on younger generations. By his use of high-level vocabulary and references, the intended audience of the essay is the educated members of modern society. Deresiewicz uses the rhetorical appeal strategies of ethos, logos, and pathos in the essay to effectively and successfully argue his main claim.

Why is solitude looked down on society? It should be advised by people to start engaging in the concept of solitude. Henry David Thoreau and Chris McCandless were both transcendentalism that believes in the key fundamental idea that the human body should partake in such as solitude. Henry Thoreau was a transcendentalist that practiced the form of solitude throughout his life. He left society and moved into the woods to be removed from the confines of society. Along with Thoreau, a more modern-day transcendentalist was known as Chris McCandless. McCandless journeyed to the wilderness in Alaska to be able to experience a minimal amount of human interaction along with the solitude that comes with it. The concept of solitude should be

I believe the overall message of Henry David Thoreau´s “Solitude” is to differentiate solitude and loneliness which are totally different. It is more of a state of mind than something real. People around by other people would feel more loneliness than people who are physically alone. For Thoreau being in solitude is the best way to discover your mind and spirituality and is the best way to know yourself.

We lost the ability to be still, our capacity for idleness. They have lost the ability to be alone, their capacity for solitude. (The end of solitude, pg.4)

“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.

Loneliness is one of the most dominant emotions experienced by human beings. Loneliness is often interwoven with despondency, solitude, and unexplainable emptiness. Many argue that people are in fact alone because they are born alone and they die alone. However, birth and death are not the totality of life. Humans instinctively interact with each other throughout their daily lives, often unknowingly such as a simple smile or greeting. People are not alone because they are meant to interact and communicate with each other, make companions in situations when others are not available, and the aspect of being alone is practically impossible around other human beings.

I find that after spending time in solitude, I am able to serve others better. The inner solidarity borne out of a heart of solitude lessens my frustrations and enables me to accept others where they are.

Not knowing how bad isolation is for people and for most other creatures is to allow everyone to fail in society. In conclusion isolation is a behavior that takes away a sense of

One of the main themes of Brave New World is conformity: fitting in with society, doing what you’re supposed to do, thinking what you’re supposed to think. When faced with these rigid community standards, John, the “savage”, decides to exile himself to an old lighthouse where he can live alone and be who he wants to be. John’s exile is both fulfilling and painful, as he experiences free thought in solitude. This is a perfect example of Huxley’s view of what is required of mankind to avoid a dystopian society.

When loneliness is present, the desire for solitude is non-existent. Solitude is preferential only when the subject chooses to be alone and is content with this choice. Loneliness occurs when there is defecate of human interaction versus the desire for human relationship and conversational interaction. Solitude provides a way of life and positive connotation, however, loneliness is often

“Little by little, Internet and mobile technology seems to be subtly destroying the meaningfulness of interactions we have with others, disconnecting us from the world around us, and leading to an imminent sense of isolation in today’s society.” (Melissa Nilles “Technology is Destroying the Quality of Human Interaction”) Because of technology, the interactions with other people have no meaning, and that we are no longer in touch with the world that we live in. Since technology makes it easier to connect and converse with friends, family, etc. it gives people the opportunity to avoid face to face interaction at all, which leads to isolation and loneliness. This is because as human beings, physical touch is something that we

Active solitude is when a person either reads a book or writes down how they feel in a journal, the best place to do this is at the library or a coffee shop, increasing the potential of a social connection. The second way is only helpful for some people, for others it can open up and entirely new problem, this method is spending money. During this technique whenever the person feels lonely they would purchase items giving them a “feel good” moment at the time. (Again, a person should be careful using this method.) The third method to overcoming loneliness is the smartest and easiest way, forced social contact! During this the individual could schedule a lunch date with friends, visit family, enroll in a class or activity that would allow them

‘La Mulâtresse Solitude’ was a historical figure of resistance against black slavery in Guadeloupe. Two statues were erected in her memory. The first in Guadeloupe in 1999 and the second in 2007 to commemorate the day slavery was abolished.

Magic realism is a writing style in which mythical elements are put into a realistic story but it does not break the narrative flow; rather it helps a reader get a deeper understanding of the reality. Often time’s Latin-American writers utilize this writing technique. It has been speculated by many critics that magic realism appears most often in the literature of countries with long histories of both mythological stories and social turmoil, such as those in Central and South America. Like many Latin-American writers, Gabriel Garcia Marquez used this approach of magic realism, in his book “One Hundred Years of Solitude”, in which he reveals the history of Macondo through the seven generations of the

"No man is an island." This famous quotation explains the nature of man as a social being. It is truly a fact that human beings cannot exist in isolation. They need to be interdependent with each other in order to survive. This interdependence is needed because a human being alone will not be able to fill his own social needs, and his material necessities came from other people as well. All acts of society such as sex, love, and dependence are essential for the survival of any species. Interaction and socialization is the only way to prevent people from isolation, from solitude.