Significance of Loneliness and Isolation in Our Lives Essay Example

Significance of Loneliness and Isolation in Our Lives Essay As we climb up the mountain of life, we realize that at some point in time we all have to go through a stage of loneliness and isolation. It’s not easy but this stage does help us to become better people. A lot of people believe that when they get their dream career and their dream lives they would be happy beyond measures, but unfourtanely life does not work out that way. You see that stage of loneliness and isolation can happened at any stage in your life child hood, adolescence, adult hood. We all as human beings must experience this only because it makes us stronger; it opens our eyes to the world. Cathedral† by Raymond Carver and â€Å"Sonny’s Blues â€Å"by James Baldwin are two exemplary works of literature that shows the importance of going through loneliness and isolation and how it opens up one’s eyes to a whole new life. James Baldwin’s â€Å"Sonny’s Blues† is a perfect example of how one is not open with their self to view others just as others view him. The narrator of the story is a high school algebra teacher, a husband, a father, and last but not least a brother. Throughout the beginning of the story you can tell that the narrator is missing something in his life, you wouldn’t think that because it seems like he had everything. That just goes to show you that nothing is what it seems on the outside, and the narrator noticed that I believe. In the beginning of the story the narrator recently found out that his little brother Sonny had been arrested for dealing drugs. He couldn’t understand how a bright young man such as his brother could get himself into such a situation. â€Å"I told myself that Sonny wasn’t crazy†¦ he’d always been a good boy, he hadn’t turned hard or evil or disrespectful they way kids can†¦ especially in Harlem† (413). Even though he had suspicions he didn’t bother with them he kept putting it out his mind. â€Å" I hadn’t wanted to know. We will write a custom essay sample on Significance of Loneliness and Isolation in Our Lives specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Significance of Loneliness and Isolation in Our Lives specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Significance of Loneliness and Isolation in Our Lives specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer I had had my suspicions, but I didn’t name them, I kept putting them away†(413). The narrator hasn’t seen his brother for over year, even if he wanted to do something, what could he do, his brother chose the life that he is living he couldn’t do anything about it. It took the narrator a while before he wrote his brother, when he finally did it was after his daughter died. When Sonny wrote back to him, the brother felt bad, as if he was a bastard. After that first letter they stayed in constant contact with each other, they even went as far as seeing each other face to face when Sonny got back to New York. It was at that moment that the narrator felt like he needed to worry about his brother, he wondered about what type of life his brother was living. He remembered when their father had died and his mom told him that he must look after his brother,† Im telling you this because you got a brother. And the world ain’t changed† (422). Sonny wanted to become a musician and the narrator didn’t feel like that was going to be much use of Sonny in life, he didn’t really support his brother and that drove a wedge between him and his brother. That became the first sign of isolation, just because they didn’t agree on Sonny’s life choices didn’t have to pull them apart. Family is supposed to support each other through whatever. The isolation became a void of loneliness plagued into his heart. The narrator couldn’t see how being a musician was going to better nor enhance his brother’s life, he couldn’t understand that the blues tell a story, and that was the only way Sonny could get his voice heard by all. You see that was Sonny’s natural high, performing and letting people feel his vibes, his joy, his pain. By discussing the issues between them and them coming to a mutual ground, Sonny invited his brother to see him perform so he could understand better. Sonny showed him that everything that you keep bottled inside needs to be released and one way to do that is by music. Keeping everything inside is like silently suffocating yourself with the truth. Its okay to let things go, it’s ok to embrace your pain that’s how life is. Life is unpredictable you never know when a curve ball might be thrown at you, or better yet when you might be challenged. That is just the kind of thing that happened in Raymond Carver’s story â€Å"Cathedral†. It is a little different from Sonny’s Blues but it still deals with the concept of loneliness and isolation. The narrator of this story has been married to his wife for some time, but for some reason he becomes jealous of his wife’s old friend who so happened to be a blind man. His wife used to work for the blind men 10 years prior to their marriage and he was paving a visit to her house to see her and catch up, since his wife died not too long ago. The narrator was bothered by the thought of a blind man coming into his house. â€Å"My idea of blindness comes from the movies†¦the blind man moved slowly and ever laughed†¦A blind man in my house was not something I was looking forward to†(438). It seemed to me that the narrator was lonely because he didn’t know who he was; he struggled to figure out who he really was. The narrator was very stand offish when the blind man finally came over. He watched how is wife and the man interacted with each oth er. He was very quiet but he also seemed very awkward. The three ate dinner, sat and talked and even watched/listened to some TV. The narrator even asked the blind man if he wanted to smoke herbs with him, and so they did. When the narrators wife dozed off on the couch and it was just the blind man and him left alone he felt uncomfortable, the sounds of what was portrayed on the television was the only thing that broke the silence in the room. A Documentary about cathedrals. Until a thought came to the narrator and he asked the question, â€Å"Something has occurred to me. Do you have any idea what a cathedral is, what they look like, that is? Do you follow me? If somebody says cathedral to you, do you have any notion what they are talking about? Do you know the difference between that and a Baptist Church†? This question struck a very intriguing conversation between the two. The blind man asked the narrator to describe the cathedrals to him. He is making the narrator think outside of his little bubble, it was as if the narrator was afraid of who he was or maybe even ashamed of it, and I believe that the blind man knew that which is why he told the man â€Å"Why don’t you find us some heavy paper? And a pen. Well draw one together†. The narrator went to go find the stuff, came back and they began to draw the Cathedral together. Then the blind man told him to close his eyes and keep drawing. In that moment he realized that he and the blind man had more in common than he thought. He only saw blind men as nuisance and not as a human being who is lonely and isolated just like him but yet he has seen the world he has experienced everything. The blind man showed the narrator that it is okay to be scared but it’s not right to pretend to be something you not, no matter how different you are remember that we are all human and that we are not all the same, we don’t go through the same experiences but we might feel the same pain. Life is not always what we expect it to be, but one thing is for sure that it is an experience that we will never forget. Works Cited Baldwin, James. Sonnys Blues. Responding to Literature. 5th ed. New York: Mc Graw Hill. 412-37. Print. Carver, Raymond. Cathedral. Responding to Literature. 5th ed. New York: McGraw HIll. 437-49. Print. Stanford, Judith A. Responding to Literature. 5th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2006,2003/1999,1992. Print.