"...Then he was arrested for murder. They hadn't enough evidence to convict him, but he was fini. Disowned by all his former friends, he could go nowhere, do nothing. The shock and the scandal had killed his poor old mother. He was desperate..."
This is one part of the quote I would like to talk about. The character being talked about here is named Smith. Uncle Arthur is telling the story to Bill about how "Some People are meant to live alone". This quote mentioned here depicts someone who has been shunned away from the society he used to partake in yet he still wanted to participate in it. He was cast out, an other. When the character of Jones takes him in, it was a small step back into general society now that Smith had found someone that would put up with him. However, Smith was on the verge of being cast out again.
"...After a while he'd go upstairs and then he'd begin to pray. Pray aloud. Jones told me that of all the things of earth that are likely to rouse thoughts of murder in a man's heart, there is nothing to equal the sound of a voice you do not particularly care for, praying on your behalf...He told him he'd either have to quit him or quit the house.... And then (Smith). . . then he confessed to having committed that murder. He couldn't live alone with the knowledge of that if he woke in the night and felt there was nobody near him, nobody he really knew, he was certain he'd either go mad or kill himself."
This second part of the quote, and the story, reveal what I believed to be one of key elements of people experiencing unhomeliness. The fear of being alone. The fear of being cast out of society and not having anyway back in. The character of Smith felt that without Jones, he would truly be left alone in the world which for him was a likely possibility for he was already cast out of general society for he taboo past. This fear of loneliness, having no one to turn to was present as well in Jean Rhys' Pioneers, Oh Pioneers, and Wide Sargasso Sea. This fear became a reality in a sense in both as that the characters of Ramage and Antoinette, became ensnared in a vicious cycle that left madness as their only solace. What makes Frank Collymore's Some People are Meant to Live Alone different was that Smith brought his madness to Jones. Jones responded by killing Smith. Now the fact that Uncle Arthur is in fact changes the idea of the story. By that I mean, he just confessed murder to his nephew Bill. This in a sense extends Uncle Arthur's self imposed exile from society seeing that probably one of the last people who would associate with him had been pushed away by the form of story. Now, I would say that Uncle Arthur was not experiencing unhomeliness as he did say he wanted to see Bill again, but Uncle Arthur seemed to be alright with being alone.
I would say that the 3 forms of madness presented here were all a result of being thrown out of society. Antoinette's madness, which at first wasn't madness but became true madness for she was told to be mad and thus she became mad, was a result of being true loneliness. Ramage's madness, which turned to possible suicide (still a bit unclear), was a result of society turning against him for his taboo marriage and the fact the he represented change. Uncle Arthur's madness is a result of himself. Although he had come to terms with being left alone in society, although he seemed to have longed for social interaction to an extent, his madness was a result of himself. He then confessed to murder to his nephew and imposed his madness onto Bill. Uncle Arthur didn't fit in, like Ramage and Antoinette.
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