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Books or poems or plays with a theme of isolation

Discussion in 'Entertainment and Technology' started by love dont judge, Jun 1, 2016.

  1. love dont judge

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    Hey guys!:smilewave
    I'm trying to prepare myself a little better for next year's forensic competition. (If you don't know, its a speech competition. There are a number of different categories you could do in either two groups: speech and interpretive. My category is Farrago, an interpretive category, which is where you pick a theme, and then center a number, I like three, of pieces from any literary genre, like books, poems, speeches, plays, etc, and then present it orally with gestures in front of a judge) Last year I procrastinated and had to compose the entire thing in a week.:eek: I barely made it through sub-districts (I did make it all the way to state though(!)) but I want to have a better grip on my pieces this year and be sure that I like all of them.
    Thus, I'm trying to get a head start on it. I'm tossing a few themes around, and one that I'm really thinking of doing it on is isolation, particularly either self-created isolation or isolation as a result of bullying. I'm trying to find some pieces that I can use for it. I was wondering if anyone here would have some suggestions as to things they've read or seen that happened to have a theme of isolation, particularly the aforementioned two types. However, I'm open to anything at this point. If you can help me out, I'd much appreciate it. Thanks!:icon_bigg
     
    #1 love dont judge, Jun 1, 2016
    Last edited: Jun 1, 2016
  2. rudysteiner

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    Room by Carol Ann Duffy is a poem with a theme of isolation, as is The Windows, arguably. You could perhaps argue that The Windows is a kind of self-imposed isolation depending on what way you interpret it; it's got quite a harsh, passive aggressive tone to it, that's almost resentful, so you might say that the speaker's tone is representative of them being a social pariah almost. Whatever floats your boat.

    You could say that The Outsider (L'Étranger) by Albert Camus has a theme of isolation, by way of Meursault (the main protagonist) being alone in his thought processes; refusing to mourn his mother's death as he doesn't feel he needs to. He's essentially a stranger to the usual human reactions to topics such as death, love and injury, etc. He also rejects any help from the Chaplin who comes to visit him in jail, so you could say he's essentially digging his own grave further and further into isolation. His lover/fiancée eventually stops coming into contact with him, as does his best friend. Those close to Meursault and his mother begin to fabricate the truth when talking about him, etc. So this fabrication of the truth maybe could be interpreted as bullying? If you want to stretch it that far.

    I haven't read it, but there's also a novel by Emma Donoghue called Room. I'm guessing that has isolation in there somewhere from what I've heard. Brie Larson is supposed to be amazing in the movie, too.
     
    #2 rudysteiner, Jun 1, 2016
    Last edited: Jun 1, 2016