The modernist movement of the early 20th century dramatically changed the way art and literature were perceived in Western culture. The themes expressed in modernism are perhaps among the most diverse, disturbing and difficult to understand. One of the main themes expressed in modernist literature is alienation; this motif can be found in James Joyce's short story "The Dead", T. S. Eliot's poem The Waste Land, and Joseph Conrad's short story Heart of Darkness. Each piece evokes the idea or feeling of alienation in a unique way. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay "The Dead" by James Joyce is a short story that presents the theme of alienation mainly through the central character: Gabriel Conroy. Gabriel's participation in a Christmas party hosted by his aunts is accompanied by a feeling of isolation and revulsion towards social activities. Gabriel longs to escape the company of the people at the party; he longs to go outside in the cold and walk along the river instead of socializing with those inside (Joyce 2355). Gabriel is socially alienated due to his “paralysis of will, energy, and imagination” (Stevenson 49). This is especially evident in his failed attempts to connect meaningfully with Lily, Miss Ivors, and his wife Gretta. Both Lily and Miss Ivors say things that make Gabriel feel anxious and uncomfortable because he is unable to communicate effectively with them; Gabriel makes no effort to overcome disagreements and as a result constantly seeks escape and isolation. Gabriel's physical desire for his wife is not reciprocated by her; Gretta's introspection and her lack of awareness of Gabriel's feelings isolate him to the point that he is finally forced to examine his own feelings and his past. At this point, Gabriel understands that since he is estranged from other human beings, he is also estranged from himself. It is the ending of "The Dead" that embodies the modernist theme of alienation. Like many other characters created by James Joyce, Gabriel experiences an epiphany at the end of "The Dead". Gabriel's awakening isn't really positive; the epiphany is his true realization of isolation. Gabriel experiences his epiphany through his wife: it is her memories and realizations that push him to examine his past (Gillies 138). Gretta's nostalgia for the past and for what could have happened with Michael Furey leads Gabriel to reflect on his own past; Gabriel realizes that “He had never felt this way about any woman, but he knew that such a feeling must be love” (Joyce 2373). This epiphany is rendered hollow because there is no redemption in it: Gabriel realizes how alienated he is from his wife, from love, and from life itself. This moment of utter loneliness and isolation is compounded by Gabriel's awareness of death and its physical manifestation in the snow covering Ireland at the time. The bleak observation made by Gabriel that "one by one they were all becoming shadows" (Joyce 2373) is one that clearly defines Gabriel's outlook on life. Although death is inevitable, it is considered more tragic because so many people have never truly lived. This alienation from life is symbolized in Gabriel's reaction to the snowfall: "His soul fainted slowly as he felt the snow fall faintly across the universe and fall faintly, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead" (Joyce 2373). This touching ending to the story perfectly illustrates Gabriel's feelings of isolation and alienation. ThereTS Eliot's poem The Wasteland is often praised by critics as one of the pillars of modernism. The theme of alienation is prevalent in this poem as are the literary references in the poem. The fragmentation of the poem is the essential alienating factor of the piece; the poem "suggests a way of experiencing material, historical, time-bound existence, everyday life, as never really quite real" (Underhill 150). The poem's fragmentation exists on a multitude of levels; each serves to alienate the poem's "voices" from one another or to alienate the reader from the work itself. To begin with, the poem's technical language is highly fragmented and confusing: "The sections proceed, disjunctively, like a frightening dream, while the fractured syntax and collage of 'found sounds' articulate modern Babel as bedlam" (Brown 92 ). These elements can be interpreted as reflecting a wasteland of language: within the structure of the poem, grammar is sterile and meaningless, sentences are dead husks, and occasionally a tattered fragment of coherent meaning floats aimlessly hither and thither. there. in a dry wind of purpose. As a result, the reader of The Waste Land cannot claim to be familiar with the basic mechanics of the English language. In a poem with so many complicated and multiple meanings, the fragmentation of language further alienates the reader. The individual "characters" of The Waste Land are also fragmented; these alienate the reader due to the large amount of associations that must be drawn with each character. The characters vary according to social status: gods, beggars, sailors, kings, queens, madwomen and fortune tellers compete for prominence with eunuchs, hat sellers, single mothers, lords and faceless children. Unlike many mythological or biblically inspired texts, "the constant interruption of quotations and allusions expresses less the mythic control sought by two generations of scholars than the chronic unraveling, under stress, of a broad Harvard education" (Brown 92) . The plethora of historical, mythical, religious and literary references contained in The Waste Land are used in the Imagist and Symbolist tradition: references generate allusions which then allude to more references. The quantity of references and allusions becomes even more overwhelming and therefore alienating when the overall context of the poem is taken into consideration. While most of the basic Western cultural archetypes are present in the poem, the inclusion of Eastern and darker references make the meaning of the poem even more difficult to understand. Hindu and Egyptian references as well as those made in languages ​​other than English are not to be understood; they are accessible only to an erudite scholar. The Waste Land is a poem that describes alienation and isolation on an epic scale; the profound desolation and confusion that the poem presents to the reader is balanced precariously by the enormous wealth of knowledge and history behind the piece. Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness is a short story that influenced many later modernist writers, including Eliot and Joyce. Heart of Darkness is, in many ways, an impressionistic story of alienation, among other things. The story's central characters, Charlie Marlow and Jim Kurtz, are the only ones given human names. All other characters are given purely functional names; these are often simply their job or their relationship with the main characters. This denial of human individuality serves as an alienating force in the story. By assigning names such as 'manager' or 'the Predestined' to the characters, Conrad renders them as symbols and therefore strictly functional to the outcome of the story (Stape 46). The struggle for one's soul and one's individual humanity is one of the themes that, 1992.