'Modern literature shows characters show characters struggling against feelings of the emptiness of modern life'. Compare the significance of emptiness in two other texts you have studied.

'Modern literature shows characters show characters struggling against feelings of the emptiness of modern life'. Compare the significance of emptiness in two other texts you have studied. 

All My Sons: 

The setting of the play portrays the underlying theme of isolation and the subsequent emptiness that revolves around the Keller family. The Keller home is hedged in by poplar trees and has a "secluded atmosphere"; this physical description develops a metaphoric force as the play unfolds and we learn of the moral isolation of this family, or at least of its patriarch. With hindsight, the seclusion suggests they are unable to go anywhere because of Joe Keller’s guilt and the secret they share. The significance of the setting contributes to the overall theme which is the pursuit of the American Dream. Their lives are isolated and still as they cannot just move on, just as their driveway is cut off and therefore useless.  

Kate Keller is never referred by her first name by Miller, instead throughout the play Miller addresses her as 'mother'. The text states: "her life has consisted of trying to deny what she knows". The ultimate fact that Kate must accept that her husband was responsible for the death of her eldest son Larry is so heart breaking, she resorts to superstitious means to avoid the truth. Kate’s emptiness is simply the result of the corruption present in society. Her motherhood, which begun with Larry, has been effectively stripped away from her, by her husband in his attempt to secure his family’s status in a materialistic society whereby morality was override by the urge to satisfy greed. It is ironic that Keller justifies he willingly shipped out faulty parts for the P-40s for his family as his ignorance led to the death of his own son. A mother’s first child will always remain so special; therefore, Kate struggles to accept her husband’s mistake, which leads her to become this frustrated and confused character. Joe is symbolic of the  corrupted society which kills of its own and damages the lives of those in that society (I.e. Kate). 

Chris 'felt wrong to be alive' following his return from the war due to the clash in ideology with regards to morals and materialism. In the battlefield 'everything was being destroyed...but it seemed to me that one new ting was made. A kind of...responsibility". This contrasts the 1940s American society which was driven by materialistic desires. Chris can no longer fit in a society that would go to any mean to achieve the American Dream. The home is so important to Joe Keller, along with everything he worked so hard to protect, that when it falls apart, it becomes too much for him. In the opening Joe stays in his backyard where he feels justified for what…