Dr. Copeland, Jake Blount, and Dissatisfaction: Questioning Teaching in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter Anonymous 11th Grade

In The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, McCullers uses the juxtaposition of two characters with very different lifestyles to question the importance of teaching and its connection to communication. Thus, she leaves the reader with the notion that there is no way to ensure one’s happiness.

Dr. Copeland has managed to dedicate his life’s work to helping to better his community; however, his methods led to his ultimate failure and arguably, his unhappiness. Benedict Mady, better known as Dr. Copeland, was a strong-willed and stubborn man. He knew exactly what he wanted, what he was working towards, and how to get it, but even in his stubbornness, he was the opposite of selfish. At almost every turn in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, he proves that he feels as though “he was meant to teach his people” (74). Clearly, there is a level of passion in him about being an asset to his community; this is only accentuated by the fact that his profession of choice is a doctor. He studied for years, left his home at seventeen, worked his way through school, and “after ten years of struggle he was a doctor and he knew his mission” (143). The “struggle” he went through led to him knowing “his mission”, and that “mission” being teaching stemmed directly...