Isolation, Loneliness and Violence in Literature

¶ … Bad in a Person

Fight Club is one of many novels that explores the theme of isolation from society, and how this in turn leads to loneliness, paranoia and violence.

Fight Club's unnamed protagonist is alienated from society

He engages in antisocial behaviors, starting with the fight club and moving onto the plan to blow up the skyscraper

The separation of the narrator from society echoes other novels presenting the theme of alienation

These novels have proven to be popular since the end of WWII and the rise of our suburban, digital society.

Selfishness lies at the root of this alienation

Writers have explored the role of selfishness in alienation, since at least Shakespeare

Flannery O'Connor highlighted such alienation in the two main characters in A Good Man is Hard to Find, where the grandmother is selfish and disconnected from her family, but meets her end at the hands of the equally isolated Misfit

The Fight Club narrator is mentally cut off from society, and seeks outlet in violence

Isolation as a theme leads to violence

In I am Legend we have the "last man" trope, born of fears about the bomb, where the protagonist is entirely isolated from the human race. He kills thousands of infected, without any remorse, an analogy to nuclear holocaust and genocide.

In Lunar Park, the protagonists move to the suburbs. Wal-Marts are bombed, the protagonist becomes increasingly psychologically isolated from the world

In Fight Club, mental illness lies at the root of the isolation, and again violence is the result, including a planned terrorist bombing

In A Good Man, the grandmother and Misfit, the two most isolated characters, are the characters most central to the violence

Alienation/Isolation is a primal fear

These stories tap into our primal fears about alienation from other humans

In Fight Club, the mentally ill narrator creates his own reality

In I am Legend, the protagonist is the last human, but gets into trouble when he thinks he's found companionship

We fear being alone -- and the violence in these stories hints that a fear of death lies at the heart of this

Conclusion

Alienation from society is a powerful motif