Isolation and Loneliness

The author uses the theme of isolation and loneliness to illustrate the ways in which people are isolated from others because of circumstance and also by choice.

The widow in “The Party” is in a state of adjustment after losing her husband. The widow “wonders how long she has to live. Of course she might die tomorrow. He did” (12). The widow does not quite understand how best to try to interact with others because she does not feel that she belongs anywhere. When the widow’s neighbors come over to tell her about the party, part of the widow wants to be invited, even though she s self-aware enough to understand that she would “[deflect] away any possibility of empathy, connection, offer of friendship” (15). It is as though the widow chooses isolation because it is expected of her.

When Anna tells her fabricated story...