Alienation as a Crisis of Identity: Loneliness, Belonging, and the Modern Self in Contemporary Literature

Page No.: 200-211

Abstract

Alienation is one of the important problems represented in contemporary literature. In the modern world, people are connected through technology, migration, education, cities, and social media, but many still experience loneliness and a lack of belonging. This paper studies alienation as a crisis of identity in contemporary literature. It examines how literary characters feel separated from society, family, culture, place, and sometimes from their own selves. The study focuses on three major ideas: loneliness, belonging, and the modern self. It uses a qualitative and interpretive method based on close reading and critical discussion of selected contemporary literary works. The paper refers to works such as Jhumpa Lahiri's The Lowland, Mohsin Hamid's Exit West, and other contemporary texts dealing with migration, cultural displacement, urban life, and identity. The study argues that alienation is not simply physical separation from other people. It is also an emotional and psychological condition in which individuals cannot fully understand where they belong. The paper further argues that alienation can sometimes become a productive experience because it forces individuals to question old identities and create new forms of selfhood. The study concludes that contemporary literature presents identity as something flexible, changing, and continuously negotiated rather than fixed.