Isolation And Isolationism

I. Introduction

Starting from the late 19th to early 20th century, modernist writing has become widely spread as a way for people to express ideas and feelings that are written in a more isolationist form. The modernist literary movement was driven by the desire to transform writing from the classic views of the time period and begin to express the newly developed emotions that were going on at the time. Both The Guest by Albert Camus and The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, are two modernist texts that strongly exhibit the feelings of emotional isolation and alienation throughout each book. In each story, the protagonist undergoes a sense of desolation, and although both characters experience the same sense of remoteness, each are isolated in different ways.

II. Contrasting Similarities and Differences

A. Both protagonists are in a setting of isolation

1. Gregor

a. Gregor does not feel accepted by society so when his family thinks he’s been hurt and want to help him, he sees it as a new found acceptance back into society/humanity

b. Quote about Gregors “acceptance.”“They were now believing that there was something wrong with him and they were ready to help...He felt that he was once more drawn into the circle of humanity and hoped for magnificent and surprising achievements.” (19)

c. Gregor feels that he has gain acceptance into humanity once again because his family had thought there was something wrong with him

i. He is only accepted if they are concerned for him, otherwise he is an outsider

2. Daru

a. Daru feels that neither him or his guest really belong anywhere

b. Quote about Darus place. “No one in this desert, neither he nor his guest, mattered. And yet, outside this desert neither of them, Daru knew, cou...

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...he Metamorphosis are similar in the ways that each character feels isolated emotionally as well as physically. Both protagonists felt a sense of solitude when it came to their location, Gregor’s apartment and the desert Daru resides in, and and although Daru was comforted by his desolation in the beginning of the story, later on he had realized how alone he was and truly felt isolated. Emotionally, Gregor was cut off from his family. While Gregor had become a burden for his family to take care of and had been locked in his room and left to die, Daru’s mental isolation had been inflicted due to his realization that no one understood him or his morals, and that he could not be accepted into society because of this. Both stories play on the idea of alienation within a society and the emotional tolls each character experiences because of it, leading to their downfall.