Loneliness and Isolation

The novel uses Eilis’s, Jim’s, and Nancy’s experiences of loneliness and isolation to explore the ways in which social alienation impacts the individual’s sense of self.

For Eilis, “living beside Tony’s parents and his two brothers and their families” augments her sense of displacement in Long Island (10). All of Tony’s family is Italian and therefore sees Eilis, the only Irish individual, as an outsider. As a result of her cultural differences, they often condescend to or belittle her. In particular, they blame “her interest in privacy and staying apart as something Irish” (10). Furthermore, Eilis “came to America” on her own and “without family or close friends” (25). Her mother and three brothers all still live in Ireland. Eilis therefore feels displaced and lonely in her Lindenhurst life, a situation which grows worse when Tony gets another woman pregnant. These...