Loneliness In Stoner

In John William’s novel Stoner (1965), is about a man who was born in the farm around the twenty century. Stoner was written in a very simple way. The novel is about 288 pages long and it is a life story from birth to death. As Mel Livatino argues in his review, that new writers were attempted to write a novel such way but, they were not successful to fit the story in this way. John Williams uses very simple language with no description of a place or characters thoughts. He avoids long pages of descriptions; he only uses it when he needs to emphasize the situation or needs to change the tone. In fact, as a reader we know we will be reading a life story of Stoner, however we only know him from the outside. Stoner has an ordinary life as a professor

Stoner never had friends before he went to university. As the author states, ‘He had no friends, and for the first time in his life he became aware of loneliness.’(14). The author displays the theme of loneliness and isolation for Stoner throughout the novel. Just like he used eyes motifs to separate himself from the actual time and the actual place. Even during his university years as a student he did not have any friends. He was lonely from the beginning of his life till he met Edith at one day in the party. As the novel was written in such a simple way without many details however William’s description of Stoner’s and Edith’s first close interaction was written in very detailed way to show the contrast between the two characters.
‘As if she had not heard him she opened the door and stood for several moments without moving; the cold air swept through the doorway and touched Stoner’s hot face. She turned and looked at him and blinked several times; her pale eyes were speculative, almost bold. At last she nodded and said, ‘Yes. You may call.’ She did not

In the introduction of the novel, John Williams calls Stoner ‘a hero’. However he is kind of an anti-hero. He has alienated himself from everything and everyone. As Livatino discusses in his article that; ‘he is a hero because against all odds he has overcome his parents’ mute existence and against all obstacles nurtured a lifelong passion for matters of the mind and heart.’ Livatino does not agree with John Williams opinion with Stoner. As a reader we witness many depressing events throughout the novel and Stoner’s consciousness become more aware of many things however he is not a tenor of response. Usually he complies with the society rules. Throughout the novel Stoner never stood up for anything unfairly happened to him. He chooses to alienate himself from everything by staying in mute just like his parents do. His dumbness was disappeared and led to consciousness even when he had all the unfortunate events, he never felt sorry for himself. He accepted everything that happened to him. Stoner’s unwillingness to do nothing to these events makes him an unlikely