In the novel, Singer becomes an ironic and ineffectual Christ figure. Like McCullers, Mick is androgynous, often wearing what is considered boy’s clothing is dissatisfied with life in a small southern town is a musician lives in a place replete with factories, mills, and churches develops a series of crushes and intense relationships is determined to learn about Jewish, Catholic, and other religious and cultural perspectives in the predominantly Protestant South is left out of many activities enjoyed by her peers and is fearful that she will spend the rest of her life trapped in a job she despises.Ĭourtesy of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division No matter which protagonist the reader selects, however, there is little doubt that Mick represents McCullers herself or that she serves as a lens for the reader. McCullers said Singer is the hub of a wheel around which the other characters move like spokes. The NovelĬritics disagree about whether Mick Kelly, an adolescent girl, or John Singer, a deaf mute, is the protagonist of The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. McCullers is best known for her novels The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1940), Reflections in a Golden Eye (1941), The Member of the Wedding (1946), and The Ballad of the Sad Cafe (1951). She dreamed of the snow, excitement, and diversity of New York, and much of that longing is reflected in her first novel. Like many southern writers, including William Faulkner, McCullers was conflicted about her birthplace. The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter is a compelling portrait of isolated characters and of their longing for self-expression, human connection, and spiritual integration.īorn Lula Carson Smith in Columbus, McCullers was in her early twenties when she wrote The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. Many of the characters in the novel are grotesques, a term in southern literature for those who are known for their exaggerated attributes, unusual characteristics, or obsessive-compulsive thought processes or behaviors. The first novel by Georgia writer Carson McCullers, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter is commonly treated as a coming-of-age story by readers and critics alike.

The lonely hunter book