Isolation as Perceived by Popular Literature

Isolation is a very widespread issue that can be found many years ago, as well as today. This topic has also been portrayed in many famous books, and this allows more people to be made aware of the issue. A few of these examples include:

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson 
This book portrays the character Melinda Sordino, a freshman in high school who over the summer had been sexually assaulted by another student, but chose to stay quiet as she was worried that people wouldn't believe her. Eventually, she ends up telling one person who she believes she can trust, her best friend from middle school, Rachel Bruin, who had recently been asked to prom by the man who raped her. However, Rachel responds to Melinda by saying "You're a twisted little freak and you're jealous that I'm popular and I'm going to the prom and so you lie to me like this." (Anderson, 184) From this, it is evident that Rachel doesn't believe her and completely disregards the confidence that Melinda had to build up in order to tell Rachel. Rachel not believing Melinda confirmed her fears about people not listening to or believing her about what had happened, and this caused her to feel more alone.
Image result for To Kill a mockingbird
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
This famous novel that takes place around the time of the Great Depression describes many important issues, including racism, but also illustrates the issue of isolation through the character Arthur (Boo) Radley. This character is more of a mythological being in the town of Maycomb, Alabama as no one had ever seen him or been around him. He is said to have been locked up ever since stabbing a pair of scissors into his father's leg. All these years, he hasn't interacted with any other human being and this caused him to become less and less able to socially interact with anyone. At one point in the book, the main character Scout asks her friend Dill why he thinks Boo Radley has never run away from his house where he is being held up, and Dill suggests "Maybe he doesn’t have anywhere to run off to..." (Lee, 192) Boo Radley hasn't been around people in a long time, and so it's very likely that he no longer has any friends to stay with or will help him.

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