Isolation

Jodi Picoult links isolation with self-discovery in Wish You Were Here. Isolation is highlighted throughout the novel as the catalyst for Diana’s journey toward figuring out who she is and what makes her happy. Picoult uses isolation to make connections. Diana needs to be isolated, both physically and mentally, in order to form a healthy relationship with herself. Picoult typically uses multiple narrators in her storytelling, but she strays from that technique to enhance the reader’s perspective of Diana’s isolation. By the end of the novel, Diana knows who she is and what she wants. Her metamorphosis as a person would not have happened without isolation.

Diana experiences isolation on multiple levels that force her to create new relationships and reconsider old ones. Diana is isolated in the hospital as she recovers from Covid, craving contact with other people. She is also isolated...