Isolation In Lord Of The Flies

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From the beginning of time, humans have endured as social beings, molded by interaction with others. Individual growth is often a cumulative result of a person’s social bonds and experiences. The inability to form these connections can lead to destructive confinement, exemplified in Golding's Lord of the Flies, Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye. Although self-inflicted isolation and forced isolation may ostracize an individual, social isolation creates the most severely warped perception of reality.

In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, Piggy suffers from forced isolation by his peers. Piggy’s inherent physical flaws separate him from the other boys on the island. Golding writes, “There …show more content…

But I remembered one thing: It wasn’t me that started acting deaf; it was people that first started acting like I was too dumb to hear or see or say anything at all (Kesey 209-210).

Although Chief’s isolation is originally a result of his environment, he consciously chooses to adopt hermit-like behavior, feeling as if he has no other choice. Unlike social isolation, Humans are capable of overcoming self-imposed isolation, just as Chief Bromden learns to speak and listen again with the help of Randle McMurphy. Kesey writes:

By God Chief he said, “It appears to me you’ve grown ten inches since the fishing trip...I looked down and saw how my foot was bigger than I’d ever remembered it, like McMurphy’s just saying it had blown it twice its size” (Kesey 267).

Chief’s status in the microcosm of the ward, symbolized by his size, improves as he withdraws from social confinement. Although self-inflicted isolation creates long-term mental instability, victims are more easily able to overcome its effects than those of social …show more content…

Holden’s harsh and unfriendly attitude towards society ostracizes him from his surrounding environment. Salinger writes, “Anyway, it was the Saturday of the football game with Saxon Hall...I remember around 3 o’clock that afternoon I was standing way the hell up on top of Thomsen Hill...You couldn’t see the grandstand too hot, but you could hear them all yelling, deep and terrific on the Pencey side, because practically the whole school except me was there” (Salinger 4). Holden is both physically and mentally isolated from his peers. His harsh and often unpredictable attitude hinders his ability to form genuine relationships, exemplified in his attempt at bonding with strangers. Salinger writes, “When I finally got down off the radiator and went out to the hat-check room, I was crying and all. I don't know why, but I was. I guess it was because I was feeling so damn depressed and lonesome. Then, when I went out to the checkroom...the hat-check girl was very nice...I sort of tried to make a date with her...She said she was old enough to be my mother and all” (Salinger 169). Holden’s failed attempt at human interaction leaves him feeling lonely and dismal, both quintessential effects of human detachment. The consequences of social isolation are worse than those of forced and self-inflicted isolation because an entire society is alienating an individual, rather than a single person or

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