Arun Joshi stands out as a highly significant novelist on the contemporary scene of the Indian English novel. He is diametrically different from his Indian or Western counterpart. He is a remarkable and thought provoking novelist with an uncompromising propensity towards the moral and traditional values of India. The novelist was a globe trotter. Due to various factors he could not shake all his oriental roots or the accidental influences. In various fictions these predicaments have been reflected which can be summarized as influences of the East and West.
Alienation is one of the recurring theme delineating different aspects in Joshi’s novel “The Foreigner”. R.S Pathak has expressed this in the following lines
“Alienation is one of the greatest problems confronting modern man. Its corrosive impact can be seen in the form of generation gap, the anti war movement, the hippie phenomenon, the credibility gap………and so on. “ (1)
‘ “The Foreigner” is the study of Sindi Oberoi’s character which is not a study of individual but it is a representation of the suffering of whole modern mankind. It reveals the self and social isolation of the modern man in order to find peace. He moves from person to person, place to place and country to country, hoping to get solution of his problems. He is neither in a position to cultivate and imitate the value existing in America nor became a part of it thus he suffers mental and physical agony feeling himself uprooted catching the principles of religion half-heartedly and carrying the vanity of his thinking. Up to the end of his life he takes refuge from his pain, suffering and malaise in various philosophies and ultimately expects the philosophy of ...
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25. Pathak R.S. 1982 Indo English Novelist’s ‘Quest for Identity’ in The Novels
Arun Joshi (ed Dhawan R.K.) New Delhi: p.47.
26 Joshi Arun 1993 “The Foreigner” Delhi Hind Pocket Books, p.80.
27 Joshi Arun 1993 “The Foreigner” Delhi Hind Pocket Books, p.141.
28 Bhagawat Gita Chapter III,verse 8.
29 Joshi Arun 1993 “The Foreigner” Delhi Hind Pocket Books, p.12.
30 Joshi Arun 1993 “The Foreigner” Delhi Hind Pocket Books, p.40.
31 Bhagawat Gita Chapter III, verse 6.
32 Bhagawat Gita Chapter II, verse 56.
33 Joshi Arun 1993 “The Foreigner” Delhi Hind Pocket Books, p.142.
34. Rangachari S 1994, ‘T.S. Eliot’s Shadow on ‘The Foreigner’ Scholar critic
(ed Radhakrishnan, N January 1994).
35. Fromm Erich 1970 , ‘et al Zen Buddhism and psychoanalysis New York, Harper and Row
The Arrival is a graphic novel, which was written to be a universal tale of immigrating to a new culture without knowing the language or having any prior connections. Illustrations constitute the entirety of the story, with no text in any real language and taking place in a made up culture, assuring that all readers would experience the character’s feeling of alienation in the same way. While the society the unnamed main character finds himself in is a fantasy, it is structured like a real one, with references to Ellis Island and a semi-modern immigration process. This book is similar to The Metamorphosis, as each of these stories focuses on one person whose situation has changed so drastically that simply taking care of himself and getting comfortable requires acclimation. For one, his body and preferences have changed, and the other, the world around him. Early on, both stories show their characters’ misplacement in their environment and then their adaptation by implying a simple task the character wishes to carry out, but showing how it has become more complicated, due to the disruption which has occurred. This is clearer in The
Feeling alone or isolated is not only a common theme is all kinds of literature, but something that many people face in life. Alienation is the perception of estrangement or dissatisfaction with one’s life. This means you feel like you don’t fit or connect, whether it’s from society, family, or a physical object. These feelings can be due to a lack of deep connections, not believing the same ideals as your society, and many other things. In Ray Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451, he discusses a man who goes against governmental rule and reads. EA Robinson portrays a man everyone inspires to be, but in the end he isn’t happy and kills himself. Lastly, WH Auden accounts of an “unknown citizen” who also has a picture perfect life, but in the end
In the stories “To Set Our House in Order” and “The Lamp at Noon” the authors are both able to effectively communicate that alienation is self-inflicted, while using multiple different techniques. As a result it becomes apparent that each author can take a similar approach to the alienation of a character in the story yet develop the theme in a unique way.
24 Amore, Roy C. and Julia Ching. The Buddhist Tradition. In Willard G. Oxtoby, Ed. World Religions: Eastern Traditions. P. 221
A way to end alienation is to let go of are judgmental thinking. If we let everybody else be themselves, then everybody will let us be ourselves. If we all live in a unity then we cannot
“It has to go”, cried his sister. “That’s the only answer, Father. You just have to try to get rid of the idea that it’s Gregor. Believing it for so long, that is our real misfortune. But how can it be Gregor? If it were Gregor, he would have realized long ago that it isn’t possible for human beings to live with such a creature, and would have gone away of his own free will” (Kafka 52). The relationship between family member’s in Kafka’s Metamorphosis is an interesting theme addressed, and somewhat distressing subject. Why is it so hard to accept that this monstrous bug is Gregor? Is it so bad for him to want to stay and be near his family- the only thing he’s ever had and known? For the sister to even come out and say these words seems somewhat selfish. Why can’t it be turned around to a viewpoint through which we have a family loving their son, unconditionally, regardless of what state he’s in? The word love is definitely one which is not seen in close companionship with the Gregor family. And we can see that this lack of affection carries on to be one of the driving forces behind the theme of alienation in the novel.
The first and most evident example of alienation and isolation in the novel is Len...
...de effects of ‘nontraditional’ immigration, the government officially turned against its immigrant communities…” In this line, Mukherjee is showing that she had also been a victim of the new immigration laws, and that was the reason she had conformed to the country, in order to feel a sense of belonging. In this instance, exemplification is used to develop her argument in an effective manner that causes the audience to feel a sense of guilt and even listen to her argument.
3. "Some Key Arguments From Meditation III-V." New York University. New York University , Web.
Alienation, the state of being isolated from a group or category that one should be apart of, exists in three forms; man’s alienation from man, man’s alienation from fellow men, and man’s alienation from the world itself. These three classes of alienation are fluid phases of the same process that exists to some extent within every member of society. The intriguing and complex nature of alienation has sparked the interest of many philosophers, artists, and authors around the world, resulting in works of art and literature that attempt to give insight into living life alone. Authors Herman Melville and Frank Kafka both reveal the struggles of functioning set apart from society through the protagonists in their respective short stories; Bartleby the Scrivener, and The Hunger Artist. The overall theme of marginalization in society in both Bartleby the Scrivener and The Hunger
People create their own society but remain alienated until they recognize themselves within their own creation. Until this time people will assign an independent existence to objects, ideas and institutions and be controlled by them. In the process they lose themselves, become strangers in the world they created: they become alienated. The notion of alienation is an ancient one. St Augustine wrote: That's a lot.
One of these problems that occurs in work is alienation. Alienation is defined as, “The Sense of meaninglessness and powerlessness that people experience when interacting with social institutions they consider
In the modern period a common topic used amongst the arts was alienation. The notion of feeling distant from others or an activity to which one should be part of or be involved in was reflected in many pieces during the modern period. Two pieces that were fascinating to me, because of the way they utilized alienation as a part of their visual and literary arts, were “The Scream,” by Edvard Munch and “The Metamorphosis,” by Franz Kafka. Munch and Kafka both used forms of formal elements to get the emotional crisis they felt through to the viewer.
Theme of Alienation in Literature A common theme among the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne is alienation. Alienation is defined as emotional isolation or dissociation from others. In Hawthorne's novels and short stories, characters are consistently alienated and experience isolation from society. These characters are separated from their loved ones both physically and psychologically. The harsh judgmental conditions of Puritan society are the cause of isolation for these characters and eventually lead to their damnation.
William Faulkner’s study of 20th century’s man search for self, in the novel Light in August, shows us the darker side of humanity – the sense of being alienated. Among many of his books, he uses alienation as one of his major themes. Alienation occurs in humans when there is a sense of isolation, depersonalization, disenchantment, estrangement, or powerlessness. Alienation has been considered an especially important issue during the twentieth century. It's often noted as being at the heart of modern dissatisfactions-- especially of youths, women and racial minorities. (Artlex, al-am) In Light in August, Faulkner presents us with the major theme of alienation through several techniques. Three techniques I will discuss in my essay are: the setting – how it emphasizes the alienation, the shifting in time in the plot – as we are explained how alienation came to be apparent at that present time, and how the misogynistic tone of the novel adds to the theme of alienation.