Literary Analysis Of Den By Elliss

Literary Analysis
Ellis sets up the novel during the 1980’s. It opens up with a semi-awkward encounter between Clay and Blaire, as they venture back to their hometown from a Los Angeles airport. For Clay, the discrepancies between New Hampshire and Los Angeles are anything but miniscule. In New Hampshire, Clay was in a more rural environment, surrounded by students of the middle class. In Los Angeles, Clay returns during winter break to a higher life style in the big city. When he returned to Los Angeles, he also returned to his old habits which were not necessarily good ones to have. Clay also struggles connecting with his old friends. In Peter Freese’s critical essay, he spoke of how, “members of his clique turn out to be alienated youths

Isolation is a recurring theme in the novel as well. Drugs are a normal part of the characters’ lives, but put a barrier between them and their true selves. The drugs and alcohol come between the characters and their sense of reality, confining them. Less Than Zero opens up by saying, “people are afraid to merge” (Ellis 8). This same quote is repeated multiple times from beginning to end of the novel and can ultimately be related back to the theme. At first, Ellis relates the quote to the setting, saying that people are afraid to merge onto the busy highways of Los Angeles. Later, it is apparent that Ellis meant for this phrase to have a deeper meaning. Ellis is insinuating that Clay and those who surround him are actually afraid to face reality. They are depicted as defenseless, and don’t want to open up with one another to connect on a deeper level and become exposed. Ellis is not literally saying that the characters are afraid to merge onto a highway, he is metaphorically saying that they are afraid to merge with one

In the novel, these illicit activities were done at various times and various locations. The characters participated in these acts at home, bars, restaurants, parties, and other spots as well. According to the survey, only 6.3% of students have consumed alcohol on weeknights, while a larger 57% have done so on the weekends. It is also apparent in the survey that the students are more likely to take part in illicit activities at a friend’s house or party, rather than being at home. This contrasts with the lives of the characters in Less Than Zero, who seem to have done drugs and alcohol freely, in virtually any environment at virtually any time. They did not look at drug usage as a big deal as we do