The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, by Carson McCullers

 

Characters

John Singer   Spiros Antonapoulos   Jake Blount   Kelly family: Father – watch repair, took in borders Mother Mick – 12 years old Bubber Ralph – baby Hazel – second oldest Bill – oldest Etta   Dr. Benedict Mady Copeland Daisy – wife, deceased Portia – Kelly’s cook Highboy – Portia’s husband William “Willie” – works in New York Café kitchen, in jail due to fight over a girl Hamilton Karl Marx “Bubby”

New York Café Bartholomew “Biff” Brannon Alice – wife, deceased   Lucile – Alice’s sister “Baby” Wilson – groomed to be child movie star   Sunny Dixie Show – carnival, rides Patterson – owner   Mr. B. F. Mason – pretended to be from government signing people up for pensions, really a thief   Harry Minowitz – Mick’s schoolmate, Jewish   People who visited Singer on a regular basis: Dr. Copeland Mick Kelly Jake Blount Biff Brannon

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from the 2000 paperback.

1.       Discuss Mick and her outside and inside worlds.  “School and the family and the things that happened every day were in the outside room.  Mister Singer was in both rooms.  Foreign countries and plans and music were in the inside room” (page 163).  Did you understand her feelings?  Why was Singer in both rooms?

2.       What did you think about Mick hosting a prom party?  Would you have been willing to take such a risk in high school?

3.       At the party, Mick and Harry Minowitz went off along and had sex.  As a result, Harry left home because he was afraid his mother would be able to tell what he had done.  Could this have been avoided at the time?

4.       Did you see it coming when Bubber shot Baby Wilson?  Bubby ran away and, when Mick found him, she made up a story about the electric chair and then going to Hell.  His father thought it was deliberate (page 170).  Did you think he meant to shoot her?  Was it his fault?

5.       Discuss Dr. Copeland.  His mother was born a slave and his father was a preacher.  He worked for 10 years to become a doctor, returned to the south, and, while taking care of people “went endless from house to house and spoke the mission and the truth” (page 143).  He also hit his wife with a poker.  What did you think his mission was?  Does his violence toward his wife affect your opinion?

6.       What did you think about Dr. Copeland talking about Karl Marx and socialism at his Christmas party? 

7.       Why do you think Jake talked so much to Singer when he could not hear him or understand everything he said?

8.       Why were so many people drawn to Singer?  How did he affect the people he came in contact with?  Biff, when thinking about Singer asked himself, “why did everyone persist in thinking the mute was exactly as they wanted him to be” (page 224).  Why do you think this was?

9.       Why was Spiros Antonapoulos in the novel?   What did we learn from him about Singer?

10.   Why did Singer commit suicide?

11.   McCullers was 23 when she wrote this novel, her first one.  How was she able to have such insight into people as well as the plight of African Americans in the 1930s at such a young age?

12.   Martin Luther King organized a march on Washington for jobs and freedom for his race in 1963.  This book was written in 1940 and Dr. Copeland and Jake discussed just such an event (pages 301-305).  Where do you think the author got this idea?

13.   This novel was named to both the Modern Library’s “100 Best English Novels of the 20^th Century” and Time magazine’s “100 Best English Novels 1923-2005.”  Why do you think it was accorded these honors?