North End Faust Sparknotes

In the story North End Faust by Ed Kleiman, protagonist Alex Markiewicz cannot be solely held responsible for his decision to commit suicide due to societal and personal factors originating from his childhood. However, ultimately whatever life throws at one, it is up to us to decide how best to navigate such challenges. North End Faust tells the story of Markiewics and how his childhood trauma of being locked in a closet by his brother instils in him a fascination with isolation and a desire for control over his mind. This fascination lasts beyond his youth. After becoming a renowned psychologist, Alex starts to return to isolation, his best “friend”, to run experiments on how it works and affects humans. However, his prolonged stay in an

This was because “[...] his companions in the North End roamed along darkened streets or joined gangs that broke windows and slashed tires [...]," (Kleiman). This early isolation, while a practical coping mechanism at the time, may have contributed to his future struggles with loneliness and depression. However, this decision was not an aspect of personal choice and rather was societally forced upon Alex. Furthermore, Alex’s relationships (ie. family) had a big impact on his tragic misfortune. While Alex had previously encountered isolation as a concept, he first encountered the euphoric high in isolation and more specifically “the darkness” "[...] after the initial terror of being locked in a closet by his older brother [...]." Being forced into isolation in a closet by his sibling instilled a sense of fear and trauma in Alex, which he then coped with by embracing isolation as a defence mechanism. It was this darkness in his isolation that he saw as a friend and led him to his

Alex developed a “coping mechanism” of sorts in which every time he felt that there was something he needed or wanted, he returned to his isolation chamber. Alex took the darkness as his caregiver. However, he faced a point where he got so overconfident and clingy to his strategy that," whenever faced with a threat of this kind [any kind], he had returned to the isolation chamber only to emerge with new material,"(Kleiman). He believed that it couldn’t fail him- until it did. The very last time in his isolation chamber, he realized that he was shocked by the “nothingness” of it all and realized that the darkness wasn’t real. In turn, he lasted only 45 minutes, a pale number in comparison to his past record of two weeks. His arrogance and overconfidence in the darkness lead to him not wanting to ask for help even though he needed it. Additionally, Markiewicz's marriage introduced him to a sense of companionship and intimacy that he had never experienced before. However, as their family grew and his wife’s attention shifted toward their children, Markiewicz began to feel lonely