It's an ordinary night and a woman is staring into her cup of coffee sitting at a diner.
He looks young and beyond his age, no one even knows what his name is or what he does in life.
What stands out is her well-dressed appearance and the hint of makeup on her face: elements that probably suggest that she has just finished work, taking a break, or is about to go to some event.
Whatever the reason for her being there, it is possible to observe how the environment that acts as her backdrop is empty, but above all that veil of thoughtfulness mixed with desolation that frames her face.
Even though the scene dates back to the 20s, how many times have we experienced a similar situation?
La solitude It's a feeling we all experience sooner or later.
Nowadays, we often feel alone regardless of the presence of a multitude of people around us or where we are.
We feel lonely while traveling on a crowded train and try to drown out the thoughts that accompany us with music.
We feel loneliness even in a crowd.
anthony giddens argues that every person is inclined to organize themselves into small or large groups.
La socialization It represents a fundamental aspect of our lives and finds its origins in the family nucleus, to then extend into contexts such as school or simple friendships.
However, although it may seem like an indispensable human action, it is also true that individuals often feel the need to isolate themselves, especially when disappointed.
Hopper's painting serves as a background for our reflection: from it we can deduce that the American painter's intention was probably to narrate the poetics of solitude, through the representation of a woman who reflects theisolation of modern life. In fact, she appears so immersed in her own thoughts that silence takes center stage.
Looking at the painting, it's natural to ask how social relations have changed today and what the origin of the feeling in question is.
Socialization and solitude: an ancient and contemporary reading
Socialization e solitude These are two concepts that have taken on different forms over time, both due to the way in which social relations have changed and the places where people spend their free time.
Let's see why together.
In ancient times, the rural area and the city center were two well-structured elements. Living in countryside environments it meant basing one's relationships on common feeling, pursuing the so-called "practice" of good neighborliness.
In these contexts, direct contacts occurred spontaneously, allowing for a high level of interaction between individuals.
This is a reality that is still present, albeit to a lesser extent, in which solitude rarely finds space, considering that individuals' lives take on a calm and shared rhythm.
But with the technological development and the third sector, we have witnessed a reorganisation of the geographical space which has reduced the intensity of social relations and favoured the development of urban agglomerations, which have then become global cities.
The changes also involved architectural structures, since man began to build commercial areas on the outskirts of cities.
The latter, according to the sociologist Marc Augè, can be defined non-places, that is, transit spaces crossed by individuals anonymously such as: motorway service stations, stations or shopping centres.
These are places where we ignore each other or touch each other fleetingly and where we go driven mainly by the desire to satisfy individual needs, probably just like the woman represented by Hopper.
La commercialization of space It has replaced squares and parks, limiting socialization and allowing citizens to move in a "loose-meshed" urban fabric, which has caused them to lose their bearings and values.
And it cannot be denied that today socializing is a practice favored mainly by technology, available to keep us company 24 hours a day.
For this reason, the urban context it has become the scenario in which social relationships are purely one of exchange and/or tension.
Man appears to be tied to material things and is urged to organize his life schematically. He is a city-user inclined to consume, rather than to relate to others.
This leads to the awareness of living in a society where often "no one does anything without receiving something in return." Where time is marked by the ticking of the clock, ready to remind us of our countless commitments.
The frenetic pace of the contemporary city makes it fertile ground for the development of individualism.
In fact, as he stated Bauman, we are faced with a company “liquid”, made of bonds that represent fragile bridges over which man passes, also experiencing disappointments.
False friendships, broken loves, conflictual work relationships, and family quarrels are the reasons why many decide to take refuge in solitude, understood as a defense against a world that offers little stimulation and dampens everyone's passions.
The era he described is a time in which the speed of social action translates into privatism ed indifference towards what surrounds us.
Isolating oneself becomes a tool for prevention against possible disappointments and as he wrote Jane Austen: "There are few people I truly love, and even fewer I respect. The more I learn about the world, the more disappointed I am."
Therefore, the scene depicted by Hopper in the 20s is not that far from what we experience today.
It demonstrates how art can be considered a useful tool to illustrate social phenomena and how two apparently opposite disciplines can nevertheless be connected.
She holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Catania. She works as a social media manager for several cultural associations involved in the Acireale Carnival and is a refugee service worker at the Astalli Center in Catania.
