Cultural studies of solitude/loneliness:
Our class discussions of The Space Trilogy and solitude/loneliness made me reflect on my studies of loneliness in cultural studies in multicultural American literature. For example, Jhumpa Lahiri is a fiction author who has written many stories of solitude from the perspective of Indian immigrants. As in the worlds Lahiri creates in her short stories, immigrants in America often felt extreme loneliness despite being surrounded by American life, because they felt internally separated from that culture. The mental disconnection makes her characters feel very alone, though they are surrounded by people, which is how we can separate loneliness from solitude. This contrasts with what we see in The Space Trilogy with Ransom and his physical solitude among the planets. Though he is physically alone, he is not lonely. Rather, his solitude has brought him peace of mind, and helps his connect with a larger plan.
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