“The Wanderer” and Normal People: Loneliness as a place of convergence in the human experience over timeLeitura em 4 minutos

Loneliness is a feeling that humans share since the beginning of time, just like many other experiences. It is intriguing to see how these shared experiences are explored over the course of time through different means, and how historically, there has been a recurrence of the forms of manifestation and reframing of these concepts. Regarding literature, it is possible to observe these shifts and parallels even in works produced in widely different contexts. “The Wanderer” is an Anglo-Saxon poetic piece written in Old English that takes place around the late 10th century. It follows a warrior, someone in complete sorrow. The poem also explores loneliness and exile with a distinctive elegiac tone characteristic of that time, combined with a religious motivation. Normal People is a novel written by the Irish author Sally Rooney published in 2018, which follows the complex relationship of Connell and Marianne throughout their lives. There is an aspect concerning Connell’s mental health that involves many different facets from contemporary society and his own struggles, which can help us to think of how in modernity the aspect of isolation is explored departing from contrasting reasons when comparing with old pieces, but also how we can merge them and find similarities.

The character in “The Wanderer” has lost everything: his kinsmen and lord, which were fundamental for him — now he sees himself exiled, collecting memories of this lost world, and dreaming about what is gone. His mind always brings him to that place of sorrow, and even when he thinks that maybe things could get better, there is a constant reminder of that pain. “One acquainted with pain understands how cruel a travelling companion sorrow is for someone with few friends at his side.”; in that way, he longs for the day that he will find some comfort again. The melancholy that we see in “The Wanderer” is accompanied by this feeling of nostalgia, a strong characteristic of Anglo-Saxon poetry. Considering that the poem is situated in a specific time, it makes sense that the problems and solutions are also going to be set down on that time, which leads us to the end of the poem: when the speaker finally accepts God as a cure for sorrow — another specificity of Old English texts, which often had a striking religious appeal. In other respects, even considering the time frame, when on the second part of the poem the theme is expanded “from one man to all human beings in a world wasted by war and time”, it is interesting to think about how this remains such a timeless aspect since psychological issues related to that sense of loneliness, such as depression, seem to be a chronical matter in contemporary society.

While in “The Wanderer” we see the lone dweller suffering for a world that no longer exists, in Normal People Connell sees himself in a similar situation when he goes to Trinity College. Apart from having depression and anxiety — conditions that contribute to his overall feelings —, he sees himself at another city, without the friends he used to have, and with a huge feeling of displacement embracing him; it is suitable to say, also, that external pressures related to an issue of class contribute significantly to his conflicts. The sense of disconnection from the past follows Connell throughout the whole novel, in which he experiences a different kind of isolation from that of The Wanderer: instead of being physically alone, he is surrounded by people that he struggles to fit in with; but just like the lone dweller, he grapples with internal questions and the weight of the past on his back. Another compelling aspect to observe is how he finds, somehow, comfort on his relationship with Marianne, which is developed all over the novel. In this sense, we see different sort of longing for connection on both pieces, since while in the first there is a religious motivation that leads the character to a “cure”, in the second one, is the human companionship and connection that provides a strain of relief to Connell.

Overall, when comparing “The Wanderer” with Normal People, we can find parallels and similarities regarding a sense of isolation and nostalgia that both characters, Connell, and the poem’s speaker, felt throughout their paths. Obviously, both works take place in different contexts and, consequently, have completely different means to “solve” their main problems; but if we look at the melancholy and loneliness expressed, we see a place of convergence, which gives us room for further developments and thoughts on how the human experience can connect different times, places and manifest itself in distinct ways.

REFERENCES

Rooney, Sally. Normal People. London: Faber and Faber, 2018.

The Wanderer. The Old English Poetry Project. Available at: https://oldenglishpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/the-wanderer/. Accessed on: 18 Sep. 2023.