Modernism and Existential Loneliness Demonstrated in...

Two authors who demonstrate modernism in its rawest form are Joseph Conrad and James Joyce. Both Conrad and Joyce incorporate one of the key characteristics of modernism throughout their works, Conrad in Heart of Darkness and Joyce in The Dead. The key characteristic that each writer targets in on is existential loneliness. It is a predominant theme throughout both of their works. A working definition of existential loneliness as illustrated throughout Conrad and Joyce’s works is the inability of one character to feel accepted by his or her peers, regardless of the close proximities that he or she is resides in. The individual who suffers from existential loneliness is incapable of interacting with on a personal level. He or she†¦show more content†¦In doing so, Kurtz begins to incorporate many of the characteristics of the darkness of Africa. His choice to remain living within the wilderness, replacing â€Å"the original Mr. Kurtz† (Conrad 2177), who wa s refined and educated, reinforces this notion of existential loneliness. He intentionally avoids returning to England because he is no longer able to endure the constrictions that the civilized society is trying to impose upon him. What was once his glamorous youth is replaced with destitution, loneliness, essential desolation; a basic need to simply exist (Conrad 2179). Conrad’s depiction of Kurtz as alienated from the rest of society is an excellent example of existential loneliness to the extreme. Although Kurtz is surrounded by other individuals, specifically savages, he is still very much alienated from the rest of the world; an alienation that Gabriel Conroy, also understands all too well. Gabriel, the protagonist in Joyce’s The Dead, also possesses many of the alienated characteristics that Kurtz demonstrates. Unlike Kurtz, Gabriel continues to remain in the civilized world, but still finds himself being isolated. On the surface Gabriel appears t o be a reliable and content young man, but underneath his exterior lays a misunderstood and very lonely individual. Gabriel’s own recognition of his isolation is