Question

According to this excerpt from "Loneliness . . . An American Malady" by Carson McCullers, what paradox do people struggle with in life? Consciousness of self is the first abstract problem that the human being solves. Indeed, it is this self-consciousness that removes us from lower animals. This primitive grasp of identity develops with constantly shifting emphasis through all our years. Perhaps maturity is simply the history of those mutations that reveal to the individual the relation between himself and the world in which he finds himself. After the first establishment of identity there comes the imperative need to lose this new-found sense of separateness and to belong to something larger and more powerful than the weak, lonely self. The sense of moral isolation is intolerable to us.

Answer 1

Answer:

4). Gaining awareness of one’s “self” causes a person to yearn for companionship with others.

Explanation:

The Paradox is defined as the literary device in which the author offers an apparently self-contrary statement. Such statements are in direct contrast with the expectations and it can be true only if it's false.

In the given excerpt from 'Loneliness...An American Malady,' the paradox that the author talks about is that 'to gain consciousness of one's self leads the person to crave for belonging to something larger and a sense of moral isolation' which is self-contradictory in itself. In order to gain self-awareness, one needs to spend time in isolation but he rather starts yearning for social acceptance.