Comparative essay - Alienation (mordern vs post mordern short story)

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The Theme of Alienation in Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” and Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery.”
Alienation refers to a state of being socially, psychologically, and even spiritually unconnected to other members of a community, family, or friends. Alienation presents a situation whereby the individual is an outsider or an outcast from the mainstream social circles. In literature, alienation mainly refers to the psychological and social isolation of certain characters from the rest. In addition, alienation can result from a character’s own shortcomings in interacting with the rest of society, and therefore is responsible for their alienation rather than being victims of negligence or discrimination in social groups. Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” portrays alienation of this nature, in that the narrator experiences alienation as a result of his narrow outlook on life and lack of compassion for others. He cares less about things or people that do not affect his life directly, and consequently fails to cultivate close ties with them. In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” alienation results from adopting opinions are contrary to tradition and coming short of societal/group expectations. This is seen when the victim, Tessie Hutchinson, violates the norm by arriving at the lottery late, an occasion so important and sacred in the community that it was an abomination to forget about it. This essay argues that alienation is a consequence of lack of self-understanding and casual acceptance of ideas/beliefs without criticizing them first.
The narrator in “Cathedral” is alienated from those close to him because he has does not understand his own weaknesses and how they affect his relationship with others. When Robert, his wife’s blind friend visits them, the narrator wonders how his (Robert) wife felt having a blind husband who could not look at her. This notion of what it takes to appreciate others (visual appearance) reflects the narrator’s artificial, and often misleading, outlook on things. He does not realize that although he can look, he lacks an understanding of the “spiritual being” (Brown 131) and therefore cannot see in the true sense of the word- understanding underlying qualities of a person or object. He believes that sight is everything as opposed to insight. He does not realize that his emphasis on the physical prevents him from “seeing” below the surface. This is why he is alienated from his wife in the sense that they do not share an intimate life. He says that he never went to bed with his wife at the same time, that “smoked dope and stayed up as long as I could" (Carver 193), suggesting the intimate gap between them. His blindness in matters sentimental makes him uncaring to his wife’s feelings, which in turn isolates/alienates him from his wife’s life. The use of mind-stimulating substances like dope suggests that he cannot deal with the reality ...