Alienation in literature can
be in the form of physical aloneness and separteness from others, or it can be the
psychological isolation of a character. Since "meaning depends upon sharing," as the
great Polish-born British writer, Joseph Conrad, once wrote, characters who have no one
with whom to share their joys or sorrows are often tragically alienated. In John
Steinbeck's novella Of Mice and Men, for instance, the character
Crooks works during the day and reads at night. Isolated from the other ranch workers
because of his race, Crooks tells the child-like Lennie that being alone makes a man
crazy, for if he sees something
"...he don't know whether it's right or not. He
can't turn to some other guy and ast him if he sees it too. He can't tell. He got
nothing to measure by."
In
Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne is
certainly alienated from the community by her having been an adultress. Even though she
sews beautifully for people, she is never allowed to be part of their social circle.
Her beloved Reverend Mister Dimmesdale, on the other hand, is an integral part of the
community, but he is terribly isolated psychologically because of his secret sin which
he must hide from others. Because he must dissemble to his congregation, Dimmesdale's
terrible psychological and spiritual alienation becomes more than he can bear until the
day that he reveals the A written upon his chest. Always the
alienated-- the disfranchised, the alone --seek someone to share with, someone to make
them a home, someone to give meaning to their lives.
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