Short Fiction · Theme
Isolation and Otherness
How Short Fiction develops Isolation and Otherness.
Many characters are isolated—physically (remote theaters, hidden laboratories, secret prisons) or socially (Martians, witches, outcasts)—and struggle with being strangers in hostile or alien environments.
Where it surfaces
- Back to the Beast
Trapped in his laboratory and unable to communicate, Lawlor becomes an isolated 'other,' alienated from humanity by his own experiment.
- I
The Moon is described as a silent, dead wilderness, and the Martian is portrayed as a hostile, alien other.
- III: The Deserter
Yaxa feels alien and hunted on Earth, and Neil's defection highlights the theme of being an outsider in one's own society.
- II: “You Can Almost Hear the Ghosts.”
The remote, insular town and its hostile reception of strangers emphasize themes of isolation and otherness.
- V: “They Want to Take the Law Into Their Own Hands.”
Wills is isolated as an accused outsider; the Devil's Croft is a place of otherness, avoided by the community.
- VI: The Theater in the Forest
The theater's remote, dark setting and the small, secluded cast emphasize isolation and a sense of otherness.
- II: The Cavalry Patrol
Lanark's Southern heritage and Union service mark him as an anomaly, isolated from both sides; the deserted house and remote valley amplify a sense of otherness.
- Return
The Mandifer farm is a barren, lifeless place with no grass or living trees, and Enid is isolated there, watched from a distance by the fearful community.
- VII: The Rock Again
Enid Mandifer is utterly alone, abandoned by slaves and neighbors, living in a dead landscape with only the company of ghosts.
- The Devil's Asteroid
Parr and the exiles are isolated on a small world, becoming 'other' through degeneration and exile.
- VII: The Grave-Digging
The wild, unwatched country and the idea of beings from another universe emphasize isolation and otherness.
- I
The protagonist is a stranger on an alien world, with no memory and no identity, facing suspicion and hostility from the inhabitants.
- II
Yandro feels alienated from the Council's customs and values, highlighting his otherness in Dondromogon.
- V
Barak's identity as a Newcomer is manipulated and hidden, making him an outsider used by the Council; Doriza is also isolated as a former Newcomer turned apparent traitor.
- All Were Monsters
Provvorr is utterly alienated by Earth's animals, which he perceives as monstrous and uncontrollable, highlighting the theme of otherness and the difficulty of understanding radically different life forms.
- Half Around Pluto
The three men are utterly alone on Pluto, abandoned by their ship, facing the desolate and alien environment.
