The Psychological Effects of Extreme Isolation in Stories The Phantom Coach and The Judge's House - Book Report/Review Example

How are the short stories, "The Phantom Coach" and "The Judges House" used as platforms to discussthe psychological effects of extreme isolation? 1.0 Introduction As much as many people enjoy being with people, others enjoy peace and quiet. For the extremely introverted personality, an isolated environment makes the perfect place to live. The average person however, is afraid of isolation and this can cause them to panic when confronted with it. In these two short stories, both of the main characters experienced isolation that brings about psychological fear and panic. Both men learn what it is like to be isolated and feel as though they were slipping into madness. 2.0 "The Phantom Coach" In "The Phantom Coach" by Amelia B. Edwards, James Murray is in a constant state of isolation. From the beginning of the story, the reader sees that he has put himself in an insolated environment that keeps him in a low grade state of panic. It was interesting to me that he went hunting with no food or water and that he did not keep track of time. The fact that he was in "a bleak wide moor in the north of England" (Edwards 49) added to the sense of isolation. His panic became immediate when the snow began to fall and since he lost track of where he was he knew he had to find shelter. In an unfamiliar situation all humans panic and look for the next nearest human so they do not have to feel that sense of isolation that Murray felt. However, each experience he had created more isolation and more panic for him. As he continues through the snow, his mind begins to show how more reasons for panic. As an example, he realizes he is lost and he feels uneasy because of the "stories of travellers who had walked on and on in the falling snow" (Edwards 50) until they laid down in the snow never to be seen again. For this and other reasons, he latches on to the first person he sees. This is right after he has thoughts of his impending death which is a foreshadowing of the end of the story. Murray sees the guides light as a symbol of safety and security but it turns out to be another form of isolation. Although he is warned that the master will not be hospitable, he pushes his way into the mansion. The mansion itself is dark and foreboding (another aspect of isolation) and although he is fed and allowed to find warmth, he chooses isolation once again to return to his home. Part of the reason that Murray always finds himself in isolation is because he does not pay attention to his environment. He misses the subtle clues around him that provide him with information. This is one of the reasons why he walked 20 miles away from his home and he does not notice that the phantom coach is not the one that he is supposed to catch. One of the fascinating aspects of the story for me was the fact that he gets into a coach of dead people, but he did not notice. The driver did not acknowledge him, the people in the coach did not talk to him even after he talked to them first, and the coach was cold and smelled like death, but he did not notice that anything was out of the ordinary, until much later. Another point that he never seemed to get was that the was being pushed to be quiet but he never stopped talking. The biggest question for me at the end was when they found him. Had he gone through all the experiences first and the accident was because he jumped out of the coach? Was he hallucinating because of hypothermia and dehydration? These two conditions would put him into an isolated state that may have brought him into this quiet panic and triggered the events of that night. This aspect was never answered. Another question is whether this was an aspect of snow madness. Sometimes people can hallucinate under extreme conditions of extreme heat or extreme cold so I wondered when they found him. We could say, as readers, that extreme isolation creates psychological distress that also creates hallucinations or misjudgment on the part of the individual experiencing it, and this may have been the case for Murray. 2.1 "The Judges House" Bram Stokers, "The Judges House" was a very different story because the main character, Malcolm Malcolmson, intentionally put himself into an isolated environment. This story was more interesting to me because Stoker led the reader down a path that was both chilling and scary. When thinking about the theme of the psychological effects of severe isolate, this story ran the gamut of these effects. When Malcolmson moved into the judges house he was looking for severe isolation because he wanted to be totally alone and away from people. He wanted to go somewhere that he would not be distracted by anything including the scenery and his friends (Stoker 274). He found the perfect spot in the judges house and the isolation suited him well. He also ignores his surroundings like Murray did. Although he was told about the ominous house, he dismisses the tales of what happened there, and settled in. As soon as he did the house became noisy because of the rats. What was interesting is that the noise is soothing to him. In fact, he stops work when it is quiet rather than when it is noisy. The rats in the background are comforting to him and the noise is like white noise that you might hear at the end of a record. I was struck by the fact that the was warned several times in several ways about the house and he never listened. It was as though his mathematician academic side could not listen to the tales or the warnings. He put himself in isolation away from the townspeople with his attitude and his arrogance. The rats were also warning him and I thought they may have been the judges other victims. They would become noisy until the big rat showed up, and then they would quiet until he left. He threw the bible at the big rat, which was a foreshowing of what would happen towards the end, but he never thought to throw the bible at the judge. He was also told by the doctor to ring the bell if there was any trouble. In fact, the rats tried to ring the bell when the judge showed up, but Malcolmson was too stuck in his fear to notice. All of these were warnings that he ignored for one reason or another. The psychological effect for him begins as he first looks at the pictures on the wall. He begins to think about the stories that people have told him and the doctors warning. He begins to panic and the circumstances of the house almost over take him. He fights the urge to run or scream when he sees the rat sitting in the chair glowering at him - this adds an eeriness and a chill to the air. At first, he is playing with the rat, and the judge (rat) is playing cat and mouse with him. My favorite scene in this story was when he goes to the picture and "a great irregular patch of brown canvas" (Stoker 286) is there instead of the judge. It is as though he must pay for violating the judges house. The reason he must pay is because he came into the judges sanctum and took his favorite chair (the judge was sitting in the chair in the picture). 2.2 Others Opinions on Isolation Mark Conliffe wrote an essay on isolation in literature in which he describes Dostoevskys work saying that he remarked that "the individual willingly detaches himself from the whole, yet suffers for it" (115). Both men in the stories were quick to cut themselves away from other people and both suffered dire consequences for it. Murray had a head injury and Malcolmson lost his life. Conliffe also suggests that when an individual is preoccupied in thought, he is not isolated physically, but his isolation is in his mind. He suggests that the individual is in a "different sense of being" (119) than he usually is in during that time, and he will act without paying attention to what is going outside of himself. In my opinion, this is what happened to both men in the stories. They were not thinking clearly because of their isolation. The psychological affects to the individuals happened because they were in isolation and not responding as they normally would. Paul W. Nisly writes that when a person is isolated, they usually isolate themselves from their family, community, or God. However, pointing to other literature, Nisly suggests "the outward separation from others is a reflection of an inner entrapment, an imprisonment of the spirit" (51). One of the things that struck me about both Murray and Malcolmson, was that their isolation started within them. Murry creates a situation within himself first where he is isolated, because he leaves his wife in the morning and goes to hunt on his own. Most people who hunt birds (grouse) take a dog with him. He goes by himself and wanders 20 miles from his home. Malcolmson isolates himself away from his community, friends and the new people in the town. He has a sense inside himself that he does not need anyone to help him because he is intelligent and there is probably some scientific reason for the noise in the house. Both men also had an internal fear of complete isolation because they fought against it. Murray fought it by continuously talking and Malcolmson fought it by using the noise from the rats to soothe him. Both mens spirits were imprisoned before their experiences. Murray was imprisoned by his need to separate himself from his life while he hunted. Malcolmson isolated himself away from his friends and from the townspeople. 3.0 Conclusion Both short stories were interesting because they did show what can happen to someone when they choose severe isolation. Both men had their minds compromised as they continued in their isolation. Both men also went into quiet panic because they were alone. In both stories, the individuals created a fantasy of what was happening around them and found out later that the fantasy had some reality. The question that remains for each of us to ponder is "What would happen to us if we were to be placed in severe isolation?" I know for myself it would be quite an adventure. References Conliffe, Mark. "On Isolation". Midwest Quarterly. 47.2 (2006): 115-130. 22 May 2010. Academic Search Premier database. Edwards, Amelia. "The Phantom Coach." Classic Chillers. Ed. E.M. Freeman. CT: The Globe Pequot Press, 1998, 47-64. Nisly, Paul W. "The Prison of the Self: Isolation in Flannery OConners Fiction". Studies in Short Fiction. 17:1 (1980). 28 May 2010. Academic Search Premier database (AN: 7134773). Stoker, Bram. "The Judges House." The Giant Book of Ghost Stories. Ed. Richard Dalby. London: Magpie Books, 2006, 274-290. Read More