Nick Schwieterman - Part I

Why does Iona have misery? At first it seemed to me that his misery came from his son, or loss of. But a closer reading has left me in some doubt. Is it the loss of his son, or is it the loneliness that surrounds him? Is it the care that Iona has for his son or lack of care that the world has for Iona that perpetuates this incredible misery? I sense that it is in the latter questioned sense that Iona is suffering. For instance, the first fare that he receives puts him in a generally good mood, and he is willing to accept it no matter what the price. And regardless of their abusiveness, the loneliness begins to evaporate. Investigating further, it seems as though there is some dissonance between the thoughts of Iona and what he speaks of. At the top half of 14 he is concerned about his son throughout conversation, but at the bottom half the misery returns, though this time through the narrator and without mention of his son, but instead his loneliness: “...can he not find among those thousands someone who will listen to him?” When Iona returns to the stable, it is the same, a non-interested world represented by the cabman and the limited omniscient narrator revealing the loneliness and misery of the protagonist. Finally, Iona finds solace in his horse which is perhaps the least interested creature in the story, yet has been attributed an equal amount of 'humaneness' by the narrator. He relates to the horse, the horse listens, breathes on him, and Iona relieves his loneliness, if only temporarily.

Edit1:
I am still not satisfied yet with this interpretation. I think that there are further implications which i hinted at, though did not fully commit to. In particular, there seems to be a rift between the inner world of Iona, full of sorrow and loneliness and misery, and the outer world; non-caring and non-interested. Maybe this is represented by the horse? - not too sure what the significance of the horse is yet, though it seems to me that there is one.

Edit2:
Thinking about it further i see the target passage - the bottom half of page 14. Here he feels as if the misery in his heart could fill the world, but it is trapped with his 'insignificant shell' so that 'one would not have found it with a candle by daylight.' <-metaphor BAM Hence i want to change my thesis from 'miserable being loneliness' to 'miserable being the indifference of the world.' Now i need to write a whole new response.

Edit3:
I will merge my edits into an all-encompassing response when i get a chance.