I Am Legend

One of the primary themes of I Am Legend is alienation, and it is hard to imagine someone who is more literally alienated than Robert Neville. He is an absolutely normal American man, or at least he was until the world changed around him. Simply by remaining who he is, he becomes first alone (when his family dies), then a criminal (when he decides not to bury her), then the target of frenzied attacks (as the vampires try to kill him), and finally the only remnant of actual humanity left alive after the world has mutated and moved on. At the close of the novel, Robert Neville is experiencing an alienation that is both evolutionary (on the species level) and metaphysical. This is indicated by the title itself. Simply by being who he is, Neville transitions from being ordinary to being mythic. He shifts from being a forgettable man to being an unforgettable legend. One of the primary themes of I Am Legend is alienation, and it is hard to imagine someone who is more literally alienated than Robert Neville. He is an absolutely normal American man, or at least he was until the world changed around him. Simply by remaining who he is, he becomes first alone (when his family dies), then a criminal (when he decides not to bury her), then the target of frenzied attacks (as the vampires try to kill him), and finally the only remnant of actual humanity left alive after the world has mutated and moved on. At the close of the novel, Robert Neville is experiencing an alienation that is both evolutionary (on the species level) and metaphysical. This is indicated by the title itself. Simply by being who he is, Neville transitions from being ordinary to being mythic. He shifts from being a forgettable man to being an unforgettable legend.