Alienation and Loneliness

Characters like Eugene, Ben, and Oliver are portrayed as strangers in their own lives, isolated from others and haunted by a sense of exile, as captured in the epigraph's question: 'Which of us is not forever a stranger and alone?'

The epigraph emphasizes the universal human condition of being 'forever a stranger and alone,' highlighting existential isolation.

Oliver feels like a stranger in his own life, alienated from his wife and community, while Eliza's solitary planning underscores her emotional distance from him.

Eliza recognizes Eugene's 'remote and intangible loneliness'; he is isolated from siblings and finds solace only in books and Ben.

Ben's profound isolation is a central focus; he is described as a 'stranger' in his own home, walking alone in the darkness. Eugene also experiences alienation, feeling that his secret world is ridiculed and that he must navigate the 'torturing paradox' of his family's values alone.