Topics Of Survival and Loneliness In I Am Legend

From every novel, there is a theme to be interpreted and studied to help us adapt in life and avoid previous mistakes done by other people. And in the story of “I Am Legend”, Survival and Loneliness were at the center of the story making them the main two themes presented by the author. Using various writing techniques the author helps us understand how these two themes are being experienced in our daily lives and to give us an understanding of how to adapt if we fall into any bad situation.

Survival is the main instinct of every living thing. It is shown by every group in I Am Legend using different methods to survive. Robert Neville who is a human had to fight his way into surviving among the vampires who wanted to kill him. To battle those beasts, he has transformed his home into a fortress all around supplied with everything to meet his essential needs. He chases down the dozing vampires and kills them to protect himself from their outnumbered groups. At the beginning of the story, as a vampire hunter, he was put into the position of having to kill his wife. Regardless of the situation he was in, he had to get the job done before they come after him.

The Vampires were also put in the same situation where they had to adapt to survive in that situation. Neville’s wife, Virginia who was affected by this virus had to come back to him in order to get his blood. All of her pas emotions and memories were put aside for survival. To them, Neville is a source of food that they have to consume in order to survive.

Another prevailing topic in I Am Legend is Loneliness. As the main overcomer of the plague, Robert Neville is the keep going individual on Earth. He is encompassed by another race who also want him dead so they would achieve their ideal society. The story shows how Neville experiences such isolation and loneliness living by himself in this bleak world.

Humans, in general, are social creatures who need to interact with others to live properly but Nivelle lacked it. He had to feel the suffering of being alone in this world with no one to interact with. He has lost the feeling of how to love someone. His sexual desires has made him almost get seduced by female vampires. Neville experienced this great suffering just from not having anyone to interact with.

Neville’s fear is the effect of him being lonely. He must continue living because of his revenge against those vampires. Drinking and smoking were big factors in order to dull this loneliness, but he would still be affected by these horrific memories.

I Am Legend is a novel that holds lots of deep messages within it, but the central themes of it are Survival and Loneliness. The idea that these two themes hold is always being experienced in our daily lives and the author did a great job presenting each message in an intelligible way using various writing techniques to help him convey these messages.