Brooding Misery

The main subject of Brooding Misery in large margin requires no description. Its mood is utterly bleak; however, there is much hope between the lines: “Long is the way and hard that out of Hell leads up to light.” This quote, taken from John Milton’s “Paradise Lost,” functions moreover as the key to understanding the central theme of the book, which is transcendence. In the broadest sense, it regards the bounds and fetters of one’s own personal hatred—in turn, calling it to the surface, illuminating it, and exercising it like a poison from one’s own soul. The narrator’s conflict is expressed and is defined through various negative emotions running through the book, which is rife with themes of self-loathing, guilt, pride, shame, anger, treachery, and of course, misery. Throughout the book, the narrator gives voice to his inner spiritual struggles yet, by the end of the journey, seeks to rise up against the darkness that permeates the depths within.