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Library's collection Library's IT development CancelIn this thesis, I focus on the analysis of the emotional isolation of the two
main characters, David Scott and Wilhelm Freytag in Katherine Anne Porter?s
novel, Ship of Fools. I find that these two characters experience emotional
isolations that come from different reasons. Apparently, they also struggle to
fight against their emotional isolation, and at the end, they have to encounter the
failure. I decide to use literary approach, especially the theory of characterization
as the main tool to analyze the reason of their isolation, their struggle to fight
against it and the proofs of their failure. In addition, I also use theory of conflict
and psychological theory, that is theory of emotional isolation as the supporting
tools for helping me in analyzing. Therefore, first of all, I prove the characters?
emotional isolation and their reasons why they experience emotional isolation;
David who has a very bad childhood cannot trust other people, including his
girlfriend, Jenny, and he does not able to build good relationship that makes him
feel attached with the others; Freytag, as a German who has a Jewish wife cannot
build any close relationship and cannot tell the truth about his wife?s identity, and
he also feels lower than the people in his own group. Furthermore, I continue to
find the evidences that show their struggle in striving against their isolation in
different ways according to their own background. David fights against his
emotional isolation by trying to show his deep affection to Jenny, but he fails.
Whereas, Freytag fights against his emotional isolation by trying to tell the truth
about his wife?s identity but he still cannot have deep relationship and fails. This
shows that any kinds of attempts from David and Freytag to fight against their
emotional isolation are not successful. Eventhough they try to oppose their
isolation but they still fail; David and Freytag cannot choose their backgrounds
that cause them to have emotional isolation, and they also cannot deny that they
have the strong tendency to fight against it. I find that through what David and
Freytag experience, Porter wants to represent their limitation with the limitation of
human being in this real world.