The Effects of Social Isolation in the Invisible Man by H.G Wells

The world has changed dramatically in the last century, especially in terms of homosexuality and its acceptance by society. In 2003, Massachusetts became the first state to allow gay marriage, followed slowly by others before becoming legal nationwide, June 26, 2015. Only five years ago the United States military repealed their nearly two decades old, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, allowing service members to openly express their sexuality. These changes would tend to indicate that Radclyffe Hall’s, The Well of Loneliness, would be an obsolete literary work, however, this is a highly inaccurate assumption. True, the aspects of gender roles have largely changed since 1928, women are no longer expected to remain at home, to tend to the children

There are many ways that people can isolate themselves. Isolation is not always something brought upon one’s self. Isolation can be optional, or a person may have no option in isolation. Stevie Smith, Nathaniel Hawthorne and E.A Robinson show, develop, and illustrate the theme of isolation in their short story and poems.

The battle between society and man, the social creature, would be a definition of social alienation. As a result of the wounds casted upon a man from society, that man begins to alienate himself and retreat. Fyodor Dostoyevsky, in “Notes from Underground,” shows us the Underground Man who, after expecting the world to work like it does in literature, finds himself being isolated for the last twenty years of his life. Ralph Ellison, in “Invisible Man,” shows us an Invisible Man who, in the beginning has social hopes and aspirations, eventually becomes completely alienated on. While Dostoyevsky and Ellison show us somebody alienated from society in different eras and environment, they differ on why one becomes alienated.

Isolation is the separation from others and/or society whether it be physically or emotionally. In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, I believe that a central theme is that the isolation from family and society, especially at a time when one is faced with difficulty, can have a negative effect on a person. The main characters in the story, Victor Frankenstein and the monster, both experience the same suffering of being alone in different ways. The negative consequences are the death of their loved one and eventually the end of their own.

On his journey Griffin anticipates that he would experience prejudice, oppression, and hardship, but he what he wasn’t equipped to handle the magnitude of it: with every step he took, he experiences some form of racism. The word "nigger" seems to sprout out the mouth of the common man as water flows from a faucet left an echo on every street corner. In his travels to New Orleans he founded how hard it was to find a job, a nice place to eat, or even find a decent restroom for blacks. After numerous traumatic days in New Orleans, Griffin decides to continue his

The word isolation is defined as meaning, “The state of being in a place or situation that is separate from others” (Merriam Webster 1). Isolation is very powerful in that it leads to many negative effects and causes people to feel left out, as well as, separated from the group. However, isolation can have differing effects on different people, while isolation can negatively affect some, it can also cause people to find themselves. Through the use of the characters Stephen, Sachi, and Okonkwo, the topic of what isolation really is will be assessed, and what exactly this very same isolation can cause will be found. In Samurai’s Garden by Gail Tsukiyama, and in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Stephen, Sachi, Okonkwo and Nwoye, are all isolated, thus causing them to strive to regain identity in their new lives.

The fear of living in isolation or being isolated from everyone else has been something people have tried staying away from. Sometimes people end up going into isolation without knowing it until it becomes too late. All your family and friends start to stray away and you are left alone with nobody by your side. When he isolates himself from society and his family, Victor Frankenstein pushes everyone out of his life to become an inventor, showing that pushing your family away is acceptable only when the outcome has an impact on the world.

Isolation occurs when one does not have a support system where they can talk and express their thoughts and emotions. Isolation in the novel Of Mice and Men highlights the effects of  human nature by portraying it as something social and dependant on others rather than individuals first. This is shown by the characters when they get affected by isolation and become destructive, delusional, and desensitized from other people.

Isolation, meaning a state of separation, is often misperceived by many as people frequently believe that isolation is always a negative state of being; that isolation due to emotions is non-realistic, and that isolation is always involuntary. These myths are commonly accepted; however, the novel Crow Lake takes a different stand from these myths. Mary Lawson, author of the novel, demonstrated isolations in many of its forms through the protagonist, Kate, and a small, desolated rural community that represented the primary setting of the novel, Crow Lake. By doing so, Lawson reveals the counterfactual nature of these myths and thus correcting the misconceptions that the society has about isolation.

So, Mr. Griffin had a multistage process done on his body so that the pigment of his skin would appear darker. After many treatments of ultraviolet light and tablet pills, Mr. Griffin had become a black man. After Mr. Griffin’s transformation was complete, he immersed himself into the black community. Mr. Griffin was not prepared for what would happen to him once in the black life. While Mr. Griffin traveled to different places in the south he met numerous people, both black and white. Some people were friendly while others were quite hostile.

The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells gives an account of a man’s descent into madness as the result of his scientific feat, invisibility. Griffin, the invisible man, first appears as a mysterious stranger, bandaged and seeking shelter and recluse but progressively transforms into a lawless individual with a proposition to initiate a reign of terror. The change in Griffin’s character occurs due to his invisibility and the power it provides because “there is no one, on this view, who is iron-willed enough to maintain his morality and find the strength of purpose to keep his hands off what does not belong to him, when he is able to take whatever he wants from the market-stalls without fear of being discovered, to enter houses and sleep with

When the term “isolation” is used, most people think of it as an action performed in solitude. It brings to mind an empty space in which one person resides, far from all others. However, isolation does not always occur in a singular sense. In “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe, isolation is used by a large population as a means of safety. In “The Thing Around Your Neck” by Chimananda Ngozi Adichie, isolation occurs among crowds of people and even in the company of someone close to one’s heart. In both aspects, isolation serves to exemplify the broken portions of life. Isolation is a destructive force and as a theme, isolation serves to exemplify a particular viewpoint and worldview while serving as both a cause and effect.

    In the novel, Invisible Man, the main character carries around a briefcase throughout the entire story. All of the possessions that he carries in that briefcase are mementos from learning experiences. Throughout the novel, the Invisible Man is searching for his identity and later discovers that his identity is in those items.

The idea of double consciousness, termed by W.E.B. Du Bois, for African Americans deals with the notion that one’s self has duality in being black and American. It is the attempt to reconcile two cultures that make up the identity of black men and women. One can only see through the eyes of another. A veil exists in this idea, where one has limits in how he or she can see or be seen. This individual is invisible to the onlookers of the veil, and those onlookers may be invisible to the individual. This then alters how one can truly interpret their conscious. This concept is one that has been explored in various themes of literature,

Social Isolation can be defined as a continual lack of contact with other people. Social isolation and chronic loneliness is one of the indisputable signals of mental turmoil, including major depression. It is the withdrawal of self from social roles directly or indirectly among individuals. Loneliness is the feeling of emptiness and desolation. This issue can immensely negative consequences on older persons such as a wide variation of premature health issues.