Any Man's Death Diminishes Me

"No man is an island entire of itself; every man

is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;

if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe

is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as

well as any manner of thy friends or of thine

own were; any man's death diminishes me,

because I am involved in mankind.

And therefore never send to know for whom

the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."

-John Donne, 1624 Meditation 17 from Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions

John Donne's meditation and Armin Greder's The Island share similar themes. Donne describes mankind as a continent, and any individual man is a piece of the whole; "a part of the main". The death of any one man breaks away their piece of the continent, making the whole smaller and less great. Greder's characters in The Island established a similar theme.

A stranger washed up on a beach is different from the inhabitants of the beach's island. The majority of the island locals suggest that he is returned to his raft and sent out back to sea. A fisherman who deals with the sea daily claims that sending the stranger away would result in his death. Though he gets to stay on the island, he is neglected and viewed as a savage. In the end, he is returned to the sea that brought him to the island. The fisherman, who was obliged to help the stranger, was punished with the burning of his fishing boat.  The island is later surrounded by a large wall, and birds that come near are shot down, to ensure "different" people never find their island again.  

Though Donne's poem and Greder's story have different moods and endings, they share similar ideas.  People who discriminate others are the lesser.  The killing or ignoring of another human being causes you and your people to be smaller.  The island's people shunned a man they think of as different, and ended up isolated and alone on their island.  Only living close to people you accept as your own "kind" causes you to be close-minded, and in the end, alone.  An island.