Isolation can definitely do weird things to the human mind. Beret, for example, pretty much loses her sanity out on the vast prairies.
The prairies make her feel completely isolated from civilization, not to mention totally bored all the time. And when your brain is left with nothing but itself for company, it's hard to stay grounded and sane. The main reason this kind of decline doesn't happen to the men (like Per Hansa) is because the men constantly have something to do with their time, like work the land.
Questions About Isolation
- When is the first time we realize that living on the prairie will be hard on Beret? Why?
- Who else (besides Beret) feels the crushing effects of isolation? How?
- How do people tend to cope with their sense of isolation? What are some of the things they do to distract themselves?
Chew on This
In Giants in the Earth , O.E. Rölvaag shows us that isolation will eventually make any human mind go crazy.
In Giants in the Earth , we find that isolation will affect different people differently, depending on how self-reliant the person is.