Loneliness

In The Lonely Londoners, the author thematically examines loneliness through characters like Moses and Harris, as well as though the lens of how London is set up structurally. At the beginning of the novel, Moses feels lonely, despite his constant interactions with other members of the Caribbean immigrant community, because “he always doing something for somebody and nobody ever doing anything for him” (2). Without a symbiotic exchange in his interactions, the protagonist feels isolated and disconnected from a sense of communal support. The author enacts this moment in the text to suggest that loneliness is not synonymous with solitude. While Moses lives in a large metropolis, works with other men in a factory, and talks to his neighbors, the lack of depth in his interactions augments his loneliness.

Later on in the narrative, Selvon utilizes the narrator’s discussion of London’s compartmentalization to further his...