Essay Questions

The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter is essentially a story about loneliness and isolation. Support this statement using illustrations from Carson McCullers' novel of the same name.

This novel by McCullers investigates the influence of loneliness and isolation and their particular influence on individuals with regards to such scales as race, age, and class. In this novel, McCullers presents the ideology that these two concepts are pervasive and, as such, might be the only forces playing to unite humanity. In the novel, characters such as Mick Kelly, Biff Brannon, and Jake Blount are presented as being too engrossed in their own loneliness and solitude without considering the fact this might be the only thing joining and linking them to the other townspeople.

Additionally, the writer presents John Singer as virtually the most lonely and isolated persona in the novel. Singer, despite being central to the novel, also appears the greatest mystery. Due to his apparent lack of communication skills, he becomes a person to whom the other people from the town can direct their frustrations and misfortunes. McCullers employs characters who embody the aspects of loneliness, a situation from which we can argue that the novel is ideally a story about solitude and isolation.

McCullers explores the concept of racism, inequality, and injustice in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. Support this statement using illustrations from the novel.

Doctor Benedict Mady Copeland, who is also one of the significant characters in the novel, epitomizes the aspects of racism, injustice, and inequality. The doctor is presented as a person who takes to heart the aspect mentioned above to heart. The doctor is focused on inspiring the black community to break through the institution of the whites that are designed to oppress them.

McCullers, in the novel, illustrates and presents the failure of American society to take care of its sidelined and downgraded persons and goes on to present how it maltreats and intimidates them. In the novel, the missing Willie’s feet are used as a metaphor to symbolize the losses that are executed against the black American community.