Disconnectedness

A common theme throughout every story of this collection is the individual's inability to assimilate into a repressive society. This is the very nature of criminality, and of course in stories like "Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner" and "The Rise and Fall of Frankie Buller," criminals are the subject. However, this theme goes much deeper and spreads farther than the criminal act. Ernest in "Uncle Ernest" has no friends and no family members to rely on; he is a ghost carved from the horrors of the first World War. When a chance encounter with two needy girls fills him with life and purpose again, society severs this connection in the form of policemen and unneeded rules, forcing Ernest to, again ghost-like, sink into the night. Mr. Raynor can only look at society passing him by in "Mr. Raynor The School-Teacher," the neighbor in "On Saturday Afternoon" has turned...