Claudia Rankine's Don't Let Me Be Lonely

Here we delve into another book, with another interesting style of writing, and a bizarre physical placement of words on the page. Claudia Rankine, typically a poet, writes Don’t Let Me Be Lonely almost in a stream of consciousness. Unlike Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, this too is not a story that flows as well as some others, however it is a narrative of a single person’s life, in this case, Rankine’s. I appreciate that this is typically how many of us would write about our own experiences. Today’s society, being the A.D.D. culture that we have become, is anxious for the answer and only discusses a certain topic for a limited amount of time before losing interest and jumping to a new topic.

Although the book is written about Rankine’s reactions to various different experiences, it is hard to tell how much time has elapsed between each new section. Perhaps the pictures of the static TV’s and the addition of blank pages between sections indicate a new chapter in the author’s own life. However, I feel that these chapters are obviously very relatable and many of us can remember our own experiences at the time. Perhaps this is how we reflect on our past, where we only have snippets and a few short moments of memory with static in between.

Death is a prominent theme throughout, although it is touched on only briefly at each mention. It is the most common thread throughout the text. Rankine progresses from not knowing anyone who has passed away, to not being able to attend her own mother’s funeral. Her detachment is present in various sections. Usually death is something someone will spend a long time discussing, an emotion-filled process. I do not think because these segments were not drawn out indicates that she has an emotional void or lacks feeling, but possibly, they just did not have a monumental affect on her. The use of other national events, that most everyone is aware of, are devoted a longer portion of the book and are discussed more thoroughly or with more facts.

The imagery used throughout the book, not only the pictures but also the TV’s from section to section and physical leaving of blank spaces, leaves everything up to interpretation. I feel that it gives one the opportunity to present one’s own ideas, almost as if that blank space is an area for the reader to include his memories on the subject.

As we have discussed with many of the other novels, America has been mostly viewed in a negative light. Here we see patriotism coupled with hatred for those who “appear” to be terrorists. We have the cops sodomizing a man and then President Clinton pushing for the allowance of generic HIV/AIDS medicine in Africa. What does this say about our melting pot culture?

With regard to the title, Don’t Let Me Be Lonely, I feel that Rankine chose this title because even though we are surrounded by hundreds of people daily, and often the same people at that, we still have this unimaginable fear of being alone, or greater yet, dying alone. Since death is mentioned several times and vaguely discussed, perhaps the author is showing us that we have nothing to fear and that it is simply the unavoidable.

I feel as though this “American lyric” will be one, if not the most, discussed books that we have read. It can be interpreted in numerous ways and most likely will be the most interesting to debate with many counter-interpretations.