When we are alone we are all completely different people. Being alone allows us to delve deep within ourselves without the distractions of external life: for some of us it is a renewing and positive experience, and for the rest of us it is degrading and negative. People from the latter can connect to Robert Neville from I Am Legend (novel), in the sense that loneliness is not very enlightening. For this reason, it is obvious that Neville pretty much represents the darker, less stable and monstrous side of the human population. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Isolation is not good for many of us. We've seen or read comical stories about how people marooned on an island go crazy and start talking to plants, but that's far from Neville's situation. Technically he is surrounded by people. Even more technically, none of them are alive. Despite the fact that the people around him are vampires, he still treats some of them like people. At least one of them: Ben Cortman. Neville vows that one day he will kill Cortman. He “looks for it” during the day. But the evidence shows that he wasn't actually looking; Cortman was hiding in the fireplace of his house, discovered by the group of living vampires. Further proving my point, Neville wonders “Why didn't he look more carefully? He couldn't fight the sickening apprehension he felt at the thought of Cortman being killed by those brutal strangers. Objectively it was useless, but he couldn't repress that feeling. Cortman could not be silenced” (Matheson, 148). When he says “it was useless”, it is clear that he means “it is useless to deny me”. Neville knew that Cortman was probably hiding somewhere in his house. It's impossible not to make the connection: Neville decided to bury his wife instead of burning her, and when she returned as a vampire, he approached the front door of their house. The simple fact that vampires are aware of their past life to some extent (even little things, like Cortman's "Come out Neville!" ultimatums. He still knows his friend's name) should be a big sign that Neville has need to look into Cortman's life. house. But instead, he claims to look into any space a human body can climb into, and suffers the consequences of his refusal by seeing Cortman killed by strangers. Neville likely chose to keep Cortman "alive" because he had the last connection to his personal life: Neville and Cortman carpooled to work in the morning right after saying goodbye to Kathy and Virginia. Put yourself in the same scenario; Do you really want to let go of your past completely? All the memories and everything you miss? Most likely, the only living relic of what your life was? If I said yes, even Neville knew it "wouldn't be that easy." Speaking of not easy things to do, Neville struggles to find company throughout the novel. No, says the reader of this essay, don't you remember the fact that he was, like, alone? Well yes, he was alone, but not all the time. Twice he meets possible companions: the dog and Ruth. What's interesting, though, is how he reacts to seeing them, individually. With the dog, Neville chased it briefly, but then decided to gain its trust by leaving it food. But the dog brings with him his deepest thoughts: “[Neville] had clung to the hope that one day he would find someone like him: a man, a woman, a child, it didn't matter… He still felt the loneliness. Sometimes he indulged in daydreams of finding someone” (Matheson, 90-91). Even if he has the possibility of having a dog that.