Good Reads / Community Library Notes
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Carson McCrullers
Review by Priscilla Comen
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Carson McCrullers
Review by Priscilla Comen
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, by Carson McCullers, is a classic novel written by twenty-three old McCullers about lonely souls in the South in the 1930s. The main character is Mick, a girl who dresses like a boy in shorts. She takes care of Bubber and Ralph by parking their stroller in the shade. Music is important to her. She sings to herself as she walks in town at night.
She gives a party and notices Harry Minowitz who lives next door. They walk around the block together. The neighborhood kids crash the party in their ratty clothes and she sends them all home. Afterward, she walks to a house where she hides and listens to the resident’s radio play Beethoven’s third symphony and she is transported. She’ll never forget it.
Biff’s wife, Alice, dies and he sews mourning bands, then goes to her sister, Lucile’s. Lucile wants her baby to have an acting career and pushes her with piano and dancing lessons. Two days after the funeral, Biff opens his café. He always stands by the cash register. Jake Blount is there, talking as always. Mick plays the jukebox and Mr. Singer, the deaf mute, eats fried chicken. Mick sits with him.
Portia goes to see her father, Doctor Copeland, and says her boy Willie is in jail. He got into a fight and slashed another man with a razor. He will probably go to prison for many months of hard labor. People speak of their sightings of Jesus and angels. Doctor Copeland, an educated man, wants to tell them the truth but cannot speak to them. On Sunday he goes to Mr. Singer’s room and meets Jake Blount on the stairs. Jake works at the carnival, operating the merry-go-round. The mute is his only friend and he sees him on Sundays. He rants about how every man should be free and equal.
On a warm night, all the kids are outside playing. Bubber has a rifle he’s playing with. It’s loaded. When Baby Wilson walks by he tells her to stop so he can see her pink purse. She keeps walking. When she walks back he aims the rifle and his finger hits the trigger. She falls to the ground and everyone thinks she’s dead. At the hospital, the doctor says she’s fine. Bubber has run away and can’t be found. Mick goes to the tree house and tells him Sing Sing awaits him, and Hell too. When he runs away again, they find him on the road to Atlanta. He goes to bed screaming and crying. Mick comforts him until he falls asleep.
Every Christmas, Doctor Copeland gives a party and awards five dollars to the student who writes the best essay about his/her ambitions. This year it’s about bettering the position of the Negro in society. Lancy Davis wins. There are boxes of presents to be given out, mostly gifts from black people. Doctor Copeland speaks about Negro labor and how it is wasted; this is not service, this is slavery. The Doctor looks in his file at his medical records and sees his prognosis: “don’t know”.
Singer goes to visit his Greek friend at a mental institution. He talks with his hands, gives his friend gifts, plays Mickey Mouse and Popeye using the movie projector.
Mick writes songs in her notebook. She wants a piano and music lessons. She tries to write a symphony. Portia is a mess because she hasn’t heard from Willie in weeks. She hears from a friend that he and two other boys were put into an ice cold room and left there for many days. They developed gangrene and Willie’s feet were sawed off. Mick wants to kill the prison guards who did this. Doctor Copeland goes to the courthouse to see the judge. They keep him waiting, then beat him and throw him into a cell for overnight. When he gets out, his family and Mr. Singer wait for him outside.
Doctor Copeland wants to gather thousands of black people and march to Washington DC. Jake has a plan to wheel Willie around the neighborhood in a wagon to tell his story. Copeland laughs at this. Everyone is angry.
One day Mr. Singer goes to see his friend and packs all the gifts for him. He isn’t there. He has died. Singer is devastated and goes home, depressed. What happens to Mr. Singer? Doctor Copeland is taken to live at his son’s farm miles from his true home. Will he accomplish his mission? Mick goes to work at Woolworths and wonders if it’s of value as her back hurts and her stockings run. Does she get the piano she longs for? Is Woolworths her destiny? Author McCullers describes hopeless lives from each character’s point of view and the reader must decide for himself the outcome.
Find this award-winning novel at your Mendocino Community Library in the fiction room there. Call 937-5773 for more information.
She gives a party and notices Harry Minowitz who lives next door. They walk around the block together. The neighborhood kids crash the party in their ratty clothes and she sends them all home. Afterward, she walks to a house where she hides and listens to the resident’s radio play Beethoven’s third symphony and she is transported. She’ll never forget it.
Biff’s wife, Alice, dies and he sews mourning bands, then goes to her sister, Lucile’s. Lucile wants her baby to have an acting career and pushes her with piano and dancing lessons. Two days after the funeral, Biff opens his café. He always stands by the cash register. Jake Blount is there, talking as always. Mick plays the jukebox and Mr. Singer, the deaf mute, eats fried chicken. Mick sits with him.
Portia goes to see her father, Doctor Copeland, and says her boy Willie is in jail. He got into a fight and slashed another man with a razor. He will probably go to prison for many months of hard labor. People speak of their sightings of Jesus and angels. Doctor Copeland, an educated man, wants to tell them the truth but cannot speak to them. On Sunday he goes to Mr. Singer’s room and meets Jake Blount on the stairs. Jake works at the carnival, operating the merry-go-round. The mute is his only friend and he sees him on Sundays. He rants about how every man should be free and equal.
On a warm night, all the kids are outside playing. Bubber has a rifle he’s playing with. It’s loaded. When Baby Wilson walks by he tells her to stop so he can see her pink purse. She keeps walking. When she walks back he aims the rifle and his finger hits the trigger. She falls to the ground and everyone thinks she’s dead. At the hospital, the doctor says she’s fine. Bubber has run away and can’t be found. Mick goes to the tree house and tells him Sing Sing awaits him, and Hell too. When he runs away again, they find him on the road to Atlanta. He goes to bed screaming and crying. Mick comforts him until he falls asleep.
Every Christmas, Doctor Copeland gives a party and awards five dollars to the student who writes the best essay about his/her ambitions. This year it’s about bettering the position of the Negro in society. Lancy Davis wins. There are boxes of presents to be given out, mostly gifts from black people. Doctor Copeland speaks about Negro labor and how it is wasted; this is not service, this is slavery. The Doctor looks in his file at his medical records and sees his prognosis: “don’t know”.
Singer goes to visit his Greek friend at a mental institution. He talks with his hands, gives his friend gifts, plays Mickey Mouse and Popeye using the movie projector.
Mick writes songs in her notebook. She wants a piano and music lessons. She tries to write a symphony. Portia is a mess because she hasn’t heard from Willie in weeks. She hears from a friend that he and two other boys were put into an ice cold room and left there for many days. They developed gangrene and Willie’s feet were sawed off. Mick wants to kill the prison guards who did this. Doctor Copeland goes to the courthouse to see the judge. They keep him waiting, then beat him and throw him into a cell for overnight. When he gets out, his family and Mr. Singer wait for him outside.
Doctor Copeland wants to gather thousands of black people and march to Washington DC. Jake has a plan to wheel Willie around the neighborhood in a wagon to tell his story. Copeland laughs at this. Everyone is angry.
One day Mr. Singer goes to see his friend and packs all the gifts for him. He isn’t there. He has died. Singer is devastated and goes home, depressed. What happens to Mr. Singer? Doctor Copeland is taken to live at his son’s farm miles from his true home. Will he accomplish his mission? Mick goes to work at Woolworths and wonders if it’s of value as her back hurts and her stockings run. Does she get the piano she longs for? Is Woolworths her destiny? Author McCullers describes hopeless lives from each character’s point of view and the reader must decide for himself the outcome.
Find this award-winning novel at your Mendocino Community Library in the fiction room there. Call 937-5773 for more information.