Exploring Isolation in Hemingway's and Hawthorne's Short Stories

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Theme of Isolation in “Young Goodman Brown” and “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” We might find ourselves in a room full of admirable people, with wonderful lighting, a wife and home, feeling as if we’re nothing but a wasted bit of human flesh. Regardless of what is going on around us, the way we feel on the inside will ultimately be determined by our own self. Ernest Hemingway’s “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown,” are prime precedents for this feeling of isolation when one seems to have everything he could ever need to sense comfort. In both stories, these men seem to have enough to keep a smile on their faces whether that’s money, a family, a clean café in which to enjoy a drink, or a bed to come …show more content…

However, with this story, the literary devices take a more ironic route to supporting this theme than Hemingway’s “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place.” For instance, a church is supposed to show unity and love; whereas in this town, it shows deceit. Brown feels isolated from the church due to what he witnesses at the devil’s communion. He doesn’t want anything to do with them because he believes they are all phony, referring to them as “chaste dames and dewy virgins.” Brown’s “innocent” wife Faith, on the other hand, is supposed to be a symbol of love and trust for Brown. Although, he can’t even look her into the eye knowing she deceived him along with the congregation. In her response to “Young Goodman Brown,” Shear Walter states that his departure from his wife is not only a symbolic loss of faith, but it’s also his leaving behind "conventional belief," (Walter). Along with the disappointment he has with the townspeople and his wife, the setting of the forest shows that he is in fact isolated. Something about creepy Willow trees and dark nights down long trails says that one is alone in all senses. Hawthorne shows in this story that aside from who one is surrounded by, the emotions he experiences is decided through only his

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