Examples Of Isolation In The Scarlet Letter And The Road

While studying works such as The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Road by Cormac McCarthy, I found a sense of isolation directed towards the main characters. These authors often, however tend to use this method of isolation as a direct focus on the protagonist that without it, the reader would miss. My purpose of this paper is to bring more attention to this connection of isolation between The Scarlet Letter and The Road.

During The Road by Cormac McCarthy, Papa and The Boy seem to be the only humans we are shown throughout most of the novel. Of course, different characters such as the burnt man, thief, and even the woman appear scarcely throughout the novel, but for the majority its just Papa and The Boy. “In those first years the roads were peopled with refugees shrouded up in their clothing. Wearing masks and goggles,

“Why dost thou smile so at me?” inquired Hester, troubled at the expression of his eyes. “Art thou like Black Man that haunts the forest round about us? Hast thou enticed me into a bond that will prove the ruin of my soul?” Hester is struggling to find out whether she has sold her soul to the Devil or not. Chillingworth is even being confused for the Devil. Donoghue depicts sin in which neither the protagonist, Hester, considers adultery a sin. He explains Hawthorne’s sense of universal evil was more pronounced than his sense of actual sin, portraying religious isolation.

In conclusion, the results of this study provide various fascinating insights into works that express isolation towards the protagonists of The Scarlet Letter and The Road. Isolation can be shown in many different ways, such as individualistic isolation, religious isolation, and even isolation from ones own community. On the other hand, due to the difficulty to find works on this topic, I suggest that we have much more to learn about different forms of isolation in thee