The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter Lesson Plan

Doctor Copeland’s father has a donkey named Lee Jackson. What is the significance of this name? Discuss this and several other “stand-out” names in the novel and the significance of naming more broadly.

Grandaddy naming his donkey “Lee Jackson” is humorous because the name references General Robert E. Lee of the Confederate Army and President Andrew Jackson, who worked against Northern abolitionists to keep the institution of slavery intact. There are several other significant names in the novel, but students may not immediately detect the references. Two of Doctor Copeland’s children are named Hamilton and Karl Marx: founding father and orphaned immigrant Alexander...