Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Ernest Hemingway's In Our Time are two very different works in structure, story, and setting. Despite these differences, the two share a common theme: solitude. While prevalent in both works, solitude manifests itself differently. In most of the short stories of In Our Time, solitude is a good thing: it brings peace to the characters, especially Nick. In "Big Two-Hearted River: Part 1 ", Nick is camping alone in Michigan completely on his own. Despite being alone, he is not lonely. In fact, Nick seems perfectly content in the forest, calling his tent "mysterious and homelike (Hemingway, 139). In "Big Two-Hearted River: Part Two ", Nick has a successful day of fishing until he reaches a swamp. He decides to return to camp, knowing that he can return to try again, and the story ends on a hopeful note. In these short stories, solitude is what Nick uses to cope with what he has been through. Being alone in nature helps him to feel accomplished and successful, which he finds difficult when around other people.
In Our Time does not contain many other stories like "Big Two-Hearted River" where the main character is completely alone, but the reader can gather from these other stories that being with others is not always a good thing. For Krebs in "Soldier's Home ", being with people means having to silently suffer emotional torture in the presence of people who do not understand him. In "Mr. and Ms. Elliot"," the absence of solitude means Hubert Elliot being unhappy with Ms. Elliot, who does not love him. Hemingway writes solitude into his stories as an almost therapeutic escape from reality. In Frankenstein, solitude has a completely different effect on the characters. Victor Frankenstein isolated himself in his pursuit of knowledge; and through his isolation, his monster is born, and tragedy begins. Other than Henry, Victor has no friends, and isolates himself from his family.
