Loneliness

In "The Eskimo Connection" both Alden and Emiko are victims of loneliness, although in different ways. Emiko's husband is dead, and she describes herself in terms of what she has lost: her husband and her poetry. As "an aging Nisei widow in Los Angeles with several children, three still at home, whose main avocation was not writing poetry but babysitting grandchildren," Emiko cannot imagine what she would have in common with a young Eskimo prisoner; but her isolation encourages her to accept Alden's offer to exchange letters anyway. Besides her family, Emiko appears to have connections with very few people. She mentions a friend from childhood and a neighbor who was once sent to prison, but that is all, until she begins her correspondence with Alden. The conversations in the story are primarily the written ones with Alden, and her relationships with others are only briefly paraphrased.

Alden...