Kassanoff explains, Wharton recognized her younger self in Sara, a woman in "All Souls'" who, is paralyzed by loneliness (383). This loneliness in the younger life of Wharton was inevitably ingrained in her stories. The story "Pomegranate Seed" is a perfect example of how Wharton's loneliness seeped into her writing.

Erdrich's "The Red Convertible" is contained in the book Love Medicine. Marie, a character in another story, is losing Nector, her husband. Her grandson Lipsha attempts to cure her loneliness by preparing a love potion. He botches the recipe and kills Nector. This shows that loneliness is not a foreign idea to Erdrich's writing either.

Both "Pomegranate Seed" and "The Red Convertible" begin with lonely characters. Charlotte begins the story remembering her friends sometimes stopped by, but "Sometimes--oftener--she was alone"(Wharton

"Got to cool me off!" was the last thing Lyman heard from his brother (Erdrich 154). Henry had jumped in the river and drowned. Lyman made the red convertible follow him in. "I wait. . . . It is finally dark. And then there is only water, the sound of it running and going and running and running" (Erdrich 154). Lyman waited, hoping his brother would not really be gone. Then he realized it was all over. There was nobody left, except himself and his life. His life had to keep going on.

Erdrich, Louise. Love Medicine. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1984.

Works Cited

Louise, Heidi, and North, Milou. "Erdrich, Louise." Contemporary Authors: New Revision Series. Vol. 62. Michigan: Gale Research, 1998.

Although everyone has a bit of loneliness in their lives, it is very prominent in the lives of Charlotte and Lyman. They lost someone precious to them, and they did not recognize what they had until it disappeared.

Although both characters were lonely at the beginning of the stories, the source of the loneliness lies deeper in the story. Charlotte felt the pain of being alone after her husband Kenneth started receiving mysterious letters from his dead wife. After reading the letters " . . . he looked years older, looked emptied of life and courage, and hardly conscious of her existence" (Wharton 318). These letters began to arrive when they returned from their honeymoon, and persisted until Kenneth disappeared. Because of the letters, he paid little attention to her throughout most of their marriage. The letters wer

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Approximate Word count = 1075
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)