The Island: Isolation - Literary Influence

• Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls
• The Tempest and Cyrano de Bergerac
• Into the Wild

Ernest Hemingway wrote For Whom the Bell Tolls, which was published in 1940 to wide critical and public acclaim. This novel was written because Hemingway wanted his readers to feel that what happened to the Loyalists in Spain in 1937 was a part of the twentieth century world crisis in which everyone shared. Hemingway focused the conflict of war in the experiences of a single man, Robert Jordan. Why Hemingway wrote the novel in this way can be seen in John Donne's quotation: "any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee." Hemingway got the title for this novel from Donne's passage in Meditation XVII of Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions. he was first going to name the novel The Undiscovered Country. Hemingway went with For Whom the Bell Tolls, though, because he thought it had the magic that a title had to have. He said in a letter that "this is the first one [title] that has made the bell toll for me."

Donne's views are seen widely throughout Hemingway's novel: the love and death, the "Mankinde," integration, and involvement. The main character, Robert Jordan, feels the love for many people, yet he has times that he feels very isolated. He seems somewhat disconnected from death, which is changed by the death of Anselmo. From this, Jordan learns how to die, which is different from his disinterest in death. Jordan can die after he has been integrated; integrated in the sense that he has felt the earth move and he has been selfless and given completely of himself. He feels himself a part of humanity, which links to Donne's Mankinde, and he has felt in touch with nature. He is able to die knowing that he has done and seen everything that he can possibly do as one man. Instead of trying to be an island, Jordan realizes that he needs to be able to depend on other things. After realizing this, and realizing that everyone must die, that the bell tolls for everyone, he accepts death.

"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main." John Donne sparks emotions of longing and community with this famous line. The theme of loneliness has been with man since the dawn of time. In this passage from Meditation XVII Donne offers hope and reason to these emotions that shadow men's souls. No man is alone, life cannot exist in a vacuum. Many of Donne's counterparts also felt the fear of loneliness. Shakespeare's comedy of tragedy The Tempest is a good example of this. The main character of Prospero and his daughter have been alone on a deserted isle for twelve years. The second scene of the play is Prospero telling his daughter of how they were betrayed by his brother, Antonio, and set adrift at sea so that Antonio could become Duke of Milan. Prospero explains to his daughter that though they lived alone they lived together for the better.

"Here in this island we arrived, and here
Have I, thy schoolmaster, amde thee more profit
Than other princes can that have more time
For vainer hours, and tutors not so careful.

Though they are alone they are strong together; he is her caretaker and provider. Many other great poets and writers who have followed Donne have also had opposing opinions, such as Edmond Rostand. The romantic writer had much different views of loneliness especially where the heart is concerned. His most famous character and romantic, the great Cyrano de Bergerac, often spoke on his loneliness. Cyrano stands alone among his fellow man partly by choice but mostly because of his deformity. In his speech from Act II he says:

To walk in my own way and to be alone,
Free with an eye to see things as they are...
I stand, not high it may be - but alone!

Cyrano lives apart, alone but strong in his solitude. Donne's idea of conquering loneliness by admitting your place in the whole is attractive. I would prefer to take his case in the matter: that in the grand scheme of life we all stand together against the terrors of the night, strong in our numbers we harken the light.

John Donne's Meditation XVII, from which the famous quote "No man is an island" comes, deals with two topics: mortality and isolation. Donne also writes that no matter what a person does, it affects everyone around him or her. Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild concentrates on Chris, who leaves his family to find himself in isolation. Chris seems to have no worries and his only problem is that he feels stuck in his old life and wants to get out. Chris is surrounded at the beginning by his family and friends, but he isn't satisfied. He feels like he is trapped and he wants to get out and find himself. So he takes his long journey toward his real self, while he travels across country, heading for Alaska. Unlike Ava, death is not in his sight and he almost seems to feel like he is immortal by the way that he talks to other people. Others are worried about his safety but he always says that he will be okay - he's got his big bag of rice. Chris tries to isolate himself whenever he can, but he always seems to seek some comfort in others, or at least enjoys the company of other people from time to time. He never wants to get too close and always leaves one of his new friends when he starts to feel that he is getting too close. It is clear that this is what he does when he leaves Franz and is "relieved that he had again evaded the impending threat of human intimacy, of friendship, and all the messy emotional baggage that comes with it" (55). Chris likes to be isolated and thinks that he is his true self, or at least closer or to his true self, when he is by himself. But he takes on a different name, Alex Supertramp, while he is out on his big adventure. As I think about it, it almost sounds like "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure," when Pee-Wee takes off to find his bike and he tells others that this is something that he has to do on his own. Even though they are not looking for the same thing, and the comparison is somewhat out there, they are both looking for something within themselves that they feel they can only find on their own in isolation.

Chris also affects many people while he is out on his personal crusade. Krakauer writes about the many people that he came into contact with along the way and how Chris made an impression on them. The women that he met were always worrying about whether or not his parents knew where he was and they were always trying to get him to promise to call his mother to let her know that he was okay. The men were always wondering what he was running for, yet they all noticed how good a worker he was and he wasn't one of those worthless hippie types. Everyone remembers him and remembers something about him that has still stayed with them and made some impression on their lives. He seems to have made the biggest impression on Krakauer himself since he spent a lot of time researching and finding as many people as possible that knew Chris while he was on his journey. Krakauer also saw a lot of himself in Chris and it made him feel close to Chris even though they never met.

Why do so many authors write on themes of isolation or interdependence? Why do people choose one or the other? Why did Donne choose interdependence? Does Hemingway make use of Donne's Meditation in other ways in his novel? Questions? Please ask us! If this web site has provoked any questions in your mind, or if you're just curious or confused about something you see here, please click on the question mark icon in the panel to the left of this article. Then fill out the form and send your question to us!