I Am Legend Loneliness Quotes

Due to Neville being isolated and also in danger, he sometimes acts insanely, for example, he “cried out in his sleep and his fingers gripped the sheets like frenzied talons,” which shows that extreme fear and also sorrow have a great impact on Neville’s mind. Due to the situation he is in, he is not able to control himself and his depression causes him to act abnormally, and his fingers’ comparison to a vulture’s talons also make this more effective. This shows the impact of isolation on Neville’s mind, which is essential in the novel.

Sometimes it is seen that Neville gives up and turns to alcohol, for example he says “I’m a dumb, stupid animal and I’m going to drink!”. From this one discovers his extremely depressed state of mind, which

All he does is drink blood,” is something Neville asks himself, and this also raises many other questions regarding the natural prejudice against vampires, which is an essential issue since it indirectly displays one of the main messages of the book, which is that unfamiliar or smaller groups are mostly alienated. Moreover, this quote also shows how Neville’s thoughts are now sane and contrast with his thoughts of when he was depressed. His logic and reasoning when wondering about the prejudice against vampires are not that expected, since he is alone and his main focus is to save himself. In this manner Matheson portrays Neville as a character who later develops sanity in his actions and inspite of his situation still displays intelligence and curiosity, which is essential to further analyze his character and

It is ironic, since normally the “legends” are creatures like vampires, whereas in this case, Neville would be a legend for the vampires. This reversal of humans and other creatures shows that anyone can be alienated if they are a minority, as it happens in this novel. The irony created is one of the main purposes of the book, since it shows alienation from a relatable perspective, not the traditional way of humans alienating and demolishing a supernatural society.

Violence is another main theme present in the book. It is mostly portrayed as a method of survival. Neville says that “If I didn’t kill them, sooner or later they’d die and come after me. I have no choice,” which shows his desperation to kill the infected. Here violence is used as the only option to survive, which Neville uses to try to finish them off before they can target him. This is not that rational, since it can not exactly be called self-defense, but as one would naturally want to prevent oneself from getting killed, violence becomes the daily routine of