International Journal on Future Revolution in Computer Science & Communication Engineering ISSN: 2454-4248

Volume: 4 Issue: 9 29 – 31
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Loneliness in Carson Mcculler’s The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

R.Parthiban,* and T.Thiruppathi**

*Research Scholar, Department of English, PRIST Deemed University, Vallam, Thanjavur,
**Research Supervisor, Department of English, PRIST Deemed University, Vallam, Thanjavur

ABSTRACT: In the novel, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, it is a darker, more terrifying drama of isolation and despair. The novel,
its characterization of Mick and Portia can be seen as a critique towards certain intersecting power structures of the 1930s South, and by
that demonstrate the crucial need of inter sectionalized theory when examining those power structures in the characterization of the two
characters. With my account of previous research on both Carson McCullers’ works in general and her novel The Heart Is a Lonely
Hunter more specifically, I have found that the novel has been read both as political and also as a text concerned with the social and
political issues of its time. The major characters, as well as the minor characters, are greatly influenced by their past, their families, and the
people they met. Both primary socialization and secondary socialization spell out the future of their lives. Their isolation, resentment,
bitterness, rebelliousness or meekness are caused according to Durkheim by many factors such as the material and non - material social facts
such as society, environment, church, state, morality, collective conscience, collective representation, and social currents.
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Introduction them spiritually lonesome. Though it is never made clear, the

McCullers gave the novel, the title The Mute. But the only reason Biff does not discuss his personal conflicts with
editor changed it to The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. Singer is most likely because Biff himself is unable to
Its principal theme seems to be an individual’s compulsion articulate these personal conflicts. Regardless, Biff still finds
to revolt against enforced isolation and the individual's urge Singer's presence comforting. After talking to Singer, the
to express the self at all cost. In other words, the theme characters almost always feel soothed.
is that sense of moral isolation, expressed in terms of McCullers also uses the novel to explore the idea
loneliness and longing, which is both the social evil of the that all people feel a need to create some sort of guiding
modern world and the inescapable condition of man. principle or god. However, whatever each person conceives
McCullers is often described as Southern Gothic and of in this godlike role is merely his or her own fantasy; it has
indicative of her southern roots. However, no basis in reality, just as those who believe in God have no
McCullers penned all of her work after leaving the proof that He actually exists. Singer becomes a pseudo-
south and eccentric characters as universal in scope. Her religious figure for the main characters of the novel; they
stories have been adapted to stage and film. believe he has infinite and unending wisdom about many
things, and they turn to him in times of trouble, constantly
ISOLATION IN CARSON MCCULLER’S THE HEART asking him to help them achieve their goals and assuage their
IS A LONELY HUNTER fears and doubts.
Each character in The Heart Is a Lonely Each character creates a different god in Singer. For
Hunter strives to break out of his or her isolated Mick, Singer is a man who feels as she does about music and
existence. The reasons each character is isolated are very whom she can ask very personal questions—things she has
different: the deaf-mute John Singer cannot communicate never said to anyone before. For Dr. Copeland, Singer is
with most of the world because he cannot speak; the only enlightened white man he has ever met, the only one
Mick Kelly cannot communicate with anyone in her who understands the Doctor's burning passion to achieve
family because they do not share her intelligence and justice for black people in the world. For Blount, Singer is a
ambition; Biff Brannon is left alone when his wife dies; Dr. man who shares his deep concern about the importance of
Copeland is alienated from his family and from other black socialist revolution and the eradication of capitalism. For
people because of his education and viewpoints; Jake Biff, Singer is, like Biff himself, a quiet and astute observer
Blount is alone is his radical social viewpoints and in the of the human condition who ponders many things in great
fact that he is a newcomer in town. depth. The novel burst upon the literary scene
The isolation from which each character suffers is a amid reviewer’s accolades that the young author was the
combination of personal and environmental factors. All the most exciting new talent of the decade. That she could
characters feel profoundly alone in some sense and all of publish a best - selling novel at twenty-three was feat
them desperately need to communicate their feelings with enough, but to write with a knowledge and
somebody who understands them. All five, with the insight that so obviously
exception of Biff, confide in Singer the things that make 29
IJFRCSCE | September 2018, Available @ http://www.ijfrcsce.org
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International Journal on Future Revolution in Computer Science & Communication Engineering ISSN: 2454-4248
Volume: 4 Issue: 9 29 – 31
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
transcended her years and experience was just short of a Jake has a nightmare at the end of the book that he
miracle. has had several times before. He dreams that he is in a crowd
There are five major characters in the novel Mick and that he is carrying a covered basket. He feels anxious
Kelly, Biff Brannon, Jake Blount, Doctor Copeland, and John because he does not know to whom to give the basket. This
Singer. It is from the singular relation of the characters to one dream demonstrates Blount's desire to find kindred spirits
another that the novel takes its shape. According to Ihab H. who also believe in socialism so that he can give his
Hassan, "What makes the relations singular, literally, is that "basket" of beliefs to them. In the dream, Blount has been
they are all centripetal, all the characters are singly drawn carrying the burdensome basket for a long time; in life, his
towards one man, the deaf-mute, Singer, who stands socialist beliefs have burdened him for a long time as well, as
bewilderedly at the center. The novel’s structure is broken up there are few people with whom he can share them to relieve
to convey the sense of ’mutual isolation; each person remains his thoughts. The loneliness that the other four major
in a padded cubicle, victimized by the very dreams which characters — Mick Kelly, Biff Brannon, Jake Blount, and
nourish his dignity. As the "Author’s outline of 'The Mute'" Doctor Copeland —- face makes them see in Singer a certain
suggests, in reality, however, Singer is none of these things; mystic superiority and consider him their ideas. They seem to
he is merely an ordinary, intelligent man who only wants to find in him all the qualities they wish for him to have. His
be with his friend Antonapoulos. The Singer cannot silence is compelling which makes them consider Singer the
understand why all these other people come to him for repository for the most personal feelings and ideas.
advice on topics with which he has no expertise or even McCullers did not, as many reviewers thought, make Singer a
familiarity. It is ironic that Singer a character the others deaf-mute because she had a fondness for the unusual as such
blindly make out to be a sort of god is just as prone to the but because of his symbolic value. His Greek friend
same blind faith, which we see in his love for Antonapoulos’ defect, which is mental as well as physical, is
Antonapoulos. Singer believes that Antonapoulos is a wise, likewise essential to the moral of the story. The fact that
kindhearted person, and he worships his friend unremittingly. Singer's four friends do not see him as really is but as they
Meanwhile, it is clear to us that all the evidence suggests imagine him, and that Singer does not see Antonapoulos as
Antonapoulos is actually coarse, selfish, and lazy. In he really is but as he (Singer) imagines him, suggests that
the end, we see that all the major characters are what men see in other men whom they admire or love is not
deluding themselves by believing only what they wish what is really there but what they wish to find. McCullers
about John Singer. Nonetheless, the very fact that they seems to suggest through this novel that the more grotesque
believe it gives them. and repulsive a character is who is yet capable of inspiring
love in another, the more forcefully does he illustrate this
Heroism surfaces most overtly in the novel in the thesis. His attentive silence and thoughtful eyes draw the four
characters of John Singer and of Mick, the least self-absorbed people close to him s Mick Kelly, a girl burdened by the care
of the major characters and seemingly the only ones capable of two younger children, by poverty, and by frustration of her
of feeling genuine, unselfish love for another person. The ambition to become a musician; Biff Brannon, who operates
love Singer feels for Antonapoulos demonstrates the altruism an all-night cafe; Jake Blount, an itinerant Marxist, who
of Singer's nature: he is capable of loving someone presently works for a carnival; and Doctor Benedict Mady
completely without receiving any true reciprocation Copeland, a proud and bitter black physician whose intense
whatsoever. Mick also shows herself to be capable of loving commitment to Marxism as the only means of raising the
someone for reasons that are not at all self-interested: she status of blacks has alienated him from most of his friends
feels a deeply affectionate love for her younger brother and relatives. There are two mutes in the novel, one a very fat
Bubber and she continues to feel this way even when he Greek Stephanopoulos, the other, the Singer, very
distances himself from her. tall and immaculate. They have no friends and have lived
Both Singer and Blount experience dreams that together for ten years. For Singer, "Nothing seemed real
either is indicative of important aspects of their except the ten years with Stephanopoulos. Mick Kelly is
personalities or support some greater theme in the novel as a another important character in the novel. She is the daughter
whole. Singer dreams that he sees Antonapoulos at the top of of the owner of the boarding “house where Singer has a
a flight of stairs, kneeling and holding something up in room. She has just entered her teens and is always
his hand. A Singer is kneeling behind dressed in shorts, a shirt, and tennis shoes. She loves music
Antonapoulos, while Mick, Biff, Jake, and Dr. Copeland and is prepared to go anywhere to hear it. To her music is the
are all kneeling behind Singer. This worshipful image symbol of beauty and freedom. She has no musical
perfectly depicts the way that the characters feel in the background and has little chance of edu-cating herself.
story: Singer worships Antonapoulos, whereas the other There is no radio in her house. In the summer she walks
four characters worship Singer. The dream represents on the streets of the town listening to any the music she can
the dynamic of the relationships in the novel as a whole. hear from other people’s houses. She starts 30
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International Journal on Future Revolution in Computer Science & Communication Engineering ISSN: 2454-4248
Volume: 4 Issue: 9 29 – 31
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reading at the public library and learns from books some of restrained or privileged by, how those structures shape her
the things she needs to know. In the fall she enters the experiences, and how she resists or accepts them. I have
Vocational High School. She arranges to have primary found that Mick is restrained by notions of femininity based
lessons on the piano with a classmate of hers. on racial, classiest, and sexist notions and there
At home, no one realizes what she wants. It is characterization challenges them through her
Singer who lets20 her talk to him when she feels lonely. “inappropriate” modes of behavior. She is also restrained
She begins to center her undirected love on Singer to fulfill her artistic aspirations due to her
because he fulfills her desire to always have a person to unprivileged position in the intersection of class and
love and admire. It has been pointed out by some critics that gender. Ultimately, Mick is defeated by the intersecting
Singer resembles Prince Myshkin in The Idiot of power structures of race, class, and gender, and not
Dostoevsky. There is an aura of holiness about the characters solely because of she a woman or because their are
which is associated with their simpli-city. Both the economically disadvantaged, but because of the her
characters inspire confidences in the most unlikely position an economically disadvantaged woman.
persons. When we read that Singer has in his face In the second part of the analysis, I have focused on
“something gentle and Jewish, the knowledge of one who Portia, a character who hardly any critics have even
belongs to a race that is oppressed" HLH (114), "a mentioned. I have examined what intersecting power
brooding peace that is seen most often in the faces of the very structures she is either restrained or privileged by, how those
sorrowful or the very wise" HLH (9), we are reminded of the structures shape her experiences, and how she resists or
Dostoevsky and doctrine that it is suffering which ennobles and accepts them By examining Portia’s characterization through
redeems mankind. an intersectional framework, it has been possible to
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter is neither religious nor see how race, class, and gender intersect and thus create
political but concerns the struggle of individuals to free notions which she either challenges or internalizes.
themselves from the cells of their beings. Hungry for human
sympathy, each of the four characters confides in Singer just WORK CITED
as Singer has confided in Antonapoulos. However, each fails [1] Andersen, Margaret L., and Patricia Hill Collins, comps.
to understand that the deaf-mute, although he reads lips, Race, Class, and Gender: An Anthology.ed. Wadsworth:
understands little of what he is told. Longing for the Cengage Learning, 2010. Print.
[2] Champion, Laurie. “Black and White Christs in Carson
sympathetic ear, the four characters, like their deaf-mute
McCullers’s ’The Heart Is a Lonely
idol, create in their own image what one of them calls "a sort
[3] Hunter’” Southern Literary Journal 24.1 (1991): 47-52.
of home-made god". From Singer’s side, he considers JSTOR. Web. 28 Oct. 2011.
Mick pitiful, Jack crazy, Doctor Copeland hopeful, and Biff [4] <http://www.jstor.org/stable/20078029>.
thoughtful, but he always welcomes them when they come [5] Crenshaw, Kimberlé. “Demarginalizing the Intersection of
to meet him. It can be said that the four characters seek race Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of
Singer's company chiefly because of what they think he has to Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist
offer them, not because they wish to offer him anything Politics.” Ed. D. Kelly.
their own. This point has been elaborated by Horace [6] Weisberg. Feminist Legal Theory: Foundations.
Philadelphia: Temple UP, 1993. Print.
Taylor. He points out that the selfishness of each
[7] Crenshaw, Kimberlé. “Mapping the Margins:
character is demonstrated in the scene when all of them
Intersectionality, Identity Politics and Violence against
meet by chance in Singer's room. It is an awkward occasion. Women of Color.” Stanford Law Review 43.6 (1991): 1241-
299. JSTOR. Web. 22Oct. 2011.
Conclusion <http://jstor.org/stable/1229039>.
The aim of this essay was to examine how The Heart I
s a Lonely Hunter, through its characterization of Mick
and Portia, can be seen as a critique towards certain
intersecting power structures of the 1930s South, and by that
demonstrate the crucial need of sectionalism theory when
examining those power structures in the characterization of
the two characters. With my account of previous research on
both Carson McCullers’ works in general and her novel The
Heart Is a Lonely Hunter more specifically, I have found that
the novel has been read both as political and also as a text
concerned with the social and political issues of its time.
In the first part of the analysis, I have focused on
Mick: what intersecting power structures she is either 31
IJFRCSCE | September 2018, Available @ http://www.ijfrcsce.org
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