The Lamp at Noon

Isolation is a compounding factor to all the difficulties the characters face. This isolation, in part, is physical. Each adult character is confined—or confines themselves—to separate rooms on the farm for much of the story. The baby initially stays contained within its crib, covered by a muslin tent. Up until the end, it is not possible to see the neighboring farms through the dust: “the lower of dust clouds made the farmyard seem an isolated acre, poised aloft above a sombre void” (1). In an emotional sense, the isolation is arguably even more severe. The two main characters’ minds are as battered and choked with dust as their farm, and they are unable to see each other through that their respective internal storms.

Because of their physical isolation, Paul and Ellen can only rely on each other for their physical and emotional needs. However, their ongoing conflict and intractability on the subject leads them to squander every opportunity to communicate effectively. As their emotional needs go unfulfilled, their sense of hopelessness deepens. For example, as the short story opens, Ellen is an unnamed woman waiting on the return of her husband. She is alone in the wind-battered house with their infant child.