Born in Columbus, Georgia, McCullers grew up in a comfortable setting, for her father was a well-to-do watchmaker and jeweler. Since her childhood, McCullers had been full of creativity, demonstrated through both music and literature. As she aged and matured, writing became her true love and she established herself as a mainstream southern Gothic author when she wrote The Heart is a Lonely Hunter at only twenty-three. This title accurately describes the theme of the novel and depicts mans’ never ending quest for love and acceptance. This book takes place at a time when racial discrimination was the prominent cultural tradition in the south in the 1930’s. A lament against loneliness, racism, and injustice are dominant ideas of this 20th century post-war novel.
In the beginning of the story two deaf-mutes, John Singer and Antopolous, share a strong relationship in which John is constantly taking care of his friend. However, the two companions are separated when Antopolous is admitted to a mental institution. When this relationship is severed, John moves to a small Southern town where he meets a young tomboy named Mick kelly, Jack Blunt, a boisterous drunk, Biff Brennan, a lonely caf entrepreneur, and Dr. Copeland, an African American physician who is intelligent yet bitter and closed minded. All of these characters are spellbound by John Singer’s apparent serenity and spirit in such a depressing and stressful world. Seeking wisdom and happiness, these characters are intrigued by this disabled man, and each forms his own special bond with him. As these characters spend increasingly more time with John, they are able to find answers to their problems, but selfishly only continue to visit him, because he serves as a solution to their loneliness. In the end John Singer is the only character left unhappy, and when he learns that his best friend in the mental institution has died, life itself becomes meaningless, driving him to commit suicide.
The Essay on Characterization in John Steinbeck’s Flight
... Pepe lives or dies. | Style: John Steinbeck uses accurate depictions of the landscape and the characters to pull in the reader. He ... in Silver Town- John Updike 15. A Visit to Grandmother- William Melvin Kelley 16. Lost- Isaac Bashevis Singer Characterization: Almost animalisticMrs. Torres ...
In The Heart is A Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers illustrates many different kinds of loneliness in each of the four main characters and focuses individually on how each one of them deals with this spiritual isolation. This story deals with loneliness and alienation in many different varieties: disability, lack of communication, different outlooks on life, adolescence and the changes it brings. Everyone in society wants to be understood in one way or another, and those unfortunate enough not to find someone who can fulfill this need are ultimately doomed to be as isolated as John Singer. This extraordinary character demonstrates the universal truth that if misunderstood, an individual can feel alone, no matter how admired and popular he may be. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter gives its readers the idea that everyone in society needs at least one person to listen, and that disaster strikes the heart in the total absence of companionship. This novel also displays the discrimination that African Americans endured throughout the early parts of the 20th century.
Racism and injustice were widespread practices across the United States, especially in the South where unfair treatment of blacks seemed to be a daily tradition. The unfair situation of a black man in the 1930’s is exemplified in this book by Dr. Copeland. An outspoken proponent of civil rights, Dr. Copeland is on a quest to change the status quo of prejudiced American society. However, his activism gets him thrown into jail, just as many other blacks did during this period. Although this black physician did not hold a great deal of respect for the whites much, he saw something good and decent in John Singer.
Realizing that both society and government had turned their backs on his people, Dr. Copeland looked to a deaf-mute for answers, and was able to find genuine happiness and satisfaction. At the end of this novel, the reader feels sad, but has a greater understanding of others’ feelings and emotions. Not everyone is able to find happiness in his or her life, and this book shows how one man can change so many peoples sadness’, yet not be able to change his own. In The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers illustrates the development of many characters in a small town society despite all of the racism, injustice and loneliness that existed in post-depression America.
The Essay on Postwar American Society Changes In Labor And Society
With the end of the war on September 2, 1945 when Japan surrender to the United States, after the dropping of the atomic bombs, "postwar American society" saw many changes in labor and social status. These changes in America society were not a direct result of the war but rather these changes during the war were a catalyst for coming changes in American society. The advent of CORE (Congress of ...
