God-Like Figure - Grade: B PDF

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Essay for the book, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers. Title of essay is "A God-Like Figure in Singer: The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers"...

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Coker 1 Aubrey Coker Professor Gentry English 1102 April 6, 2017

A God-Like Figure in Singer: The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers As humans, we often go through many hard times in our lives. During those times, we may long for someone who is willing to listen to our thoughts and be a solid presence in our lives. That person is often a close friend, a relative, a mentor, or someone we elevate to a godlike status. I believe that the character of John Singer can be given that god-like status. This is portrayed in McCullers book The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, through the characters of Mick Kelly, Dr. Copeland, and Jake Blount as they all turn to John Singer as that god-like figure to confide in. Mick Kelly is a “gangling, towheaded girl of about twelve” (McCullers 18). She is rebellious, positive, and most importantly, ambitious. Kelly has a wild desire to become famous one day. She graffities on a wall of a house the words “Edison,” “Dick Tracy,” and “Mussolini” (McCullers 37) and “then in each corner with the largest letters of all, made with green and outlined in red, she wrote her initials-M.K.” (McCullers 37). Kelly writes this in the way she would if she were famous. This desire to become famous and her passion for music was constantly on her mind, “…all the time –no matter what she was doing-there was music. Sometimes she hummed to herself as she walked, and other times she listened quietly to the songs inside her” (McCullers 98). She starts visiting Singer to talk about these passions and share the joy she finds in music. He becomes her god figure because she feels a connection to him

Coker 2 through music, especially when “he had bought a radio and put it on the table by the window” (McCullers 209). He is the only one that can enter her inner room, “With her it was like there was two places-the inside room and the outside room. 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” (McCullers 163). She confides in him her passions and inner desires. Even though he cannot speak and express his opinion, she feels he understands, like you would with God. Some people may say that Mick’s interest in Singer is simply a child-like fascination with him due to the fact that “she wanted to follow him everywhere. In the morning she would watch him go down the front steps to work and then follow along a half a block behind him” (McCullers 306) and he had experienced things that she had always wanted to like living in a place with snow. Even though this is a strong argument, I believe that Mick’s relationship with the mute is out of love, trust, and the fact that she can look up to him. Dr. Copeland, another one of Singer’s visitors, is a noble character that devotes his life to furthering the education of blacks. Some say that he is racists due to “the feeling that would come on him was a black, terrible, negro feeling” (McCullers 81) but I believe that it is simply the intense feelings he has towards his race. The desire to change the way people treat blacks. Dr. Copeland loves his family and wants the best for them, but has a hard time connecting with them because of, “this feeling of real true purpose for them was so strong that he knew exactly how each thing should be with them” (McCullers 80). Due to this strong feeling, when they were young, he would often push his children to be the best, and got upset when they were distracted by the frilly things in life, like “wear[ing] bright-colored, flimsy clothes” (McCullers 80), showing that he had a hard time connecting with others. Dr. Copeland first feels the connection

Coker 3 to Singer when “the white man smiled at him and lighted for him his cigarette. [Dr. Copeland] did not know what to say, for nothing like that had ever happened to him before” (McCullers 85). The doctor is drawn to Singer’s random and sudden kindness to him, a man of the opposite race. This encounter sparks the desire inside Dr. Copeland to talk to Singer, especially since the doctor has a deaf and mute patient similar to Singer. In his first visit to the deaf-mute, “they had lemonade together and the mute wrote down the answer to the questions he wished to know” (McCullers 91). Unlike contrary beliefs that state that Dr. Copeland only connects with Singer on a surface level due to his deaf and muteness, I believe that this instant connection is much like how one might feel with God or someone that they know they can trust and know would not say anything unkind because, “he[Singer] listened, and in his face there was something gentle” (McCullers 135). The doctor even invites Singer into his regular life routine by, “on one occasion, [taking] Mr. Singer with him on his rounds” (McCullers 135) and revealing to him the gruesome sights he deals with each day. Singer is not phased by anything, “[he] walked behind him [Dr. Copeland] and watched and understood. He gave nickels to the children, and because of his quietness and decorum he did not disturb the patients as would have another visitor” (McCullers 135). This shows that like God, Singer is comfortable to be with and easy to talk to, instantly putting Dr. Copeland, a hard to relate to man, at ease. Jake Blount is a very curious, interesting, and a little insane of a character. He himself even agrees, thinking, “He was use to dreams, the grotesque nightmares of drink that let him down into a madman’s region of of disorder, but always the morning light scattered the effects of these wild dreams and he forgot them” (McCullers 280). He drinks heavily, has a vicious temper, and, like Mick Kelly, has a passion. His passion is to change the world. “‘The bastards who own these mills are millionaires. While the doffers and carders and all the people behind the machines

Coker 4 who spin and weave can’t hardly make their guts quiet. See? So when you walk around the streets and think about it and see hungry, worn-out people and ricket-legged young’uns, don’t it make you mad? Don’t it?’” (McCullers 66). Readers can see that Blount wants to change how the world is economically. He wants people to be given fair wages and not be walking around starving. Blount’s connection to Singer is a little different. They have a more personal connection because the mute takes Blount into his home and gives him a place to sleep, writing, “I can put a mattress on the floor and you can stay here until you find a place” (McCullers 56). This eventually allows Blount to vent his frustrations to Singer, saying, “‘they fought so that this could be a country where every man would be equal and free. Huh! And that meant every man was equal in the sight of Nature—with an equal chance. This didn’t mean that twenty per cent of the people were free to rob the other eighty per cent of the means to live” (McCullers 158). He finds the connection to Singer through his beliefs about the economy, believing that Singer feels the same way even though he cannot say it bluntly, but with “[his] eyes seemed to understand all that he had meant to say and to hold some message for him” (McCullers 69). Singer’s room becomes a comfortable place for Blount where he can share whatever is on his mind. He kicks back, drinks a few beers, and talks, “often [with] his voice com[ing] out loud and angry from the room” (McCullers 91) all while Singer patiently and willingly listens. Just like the other characters, Singer becomes a god-like figure to Blount due to his quietness and willingness to listen in an accepting manner. Not everyone believes in God or a god, but everyone does long for that one person they can trust and confide in with their heart issues. That is a natural desire that lives in every human being; we want to be loved, pursued, and accepted. Sometimes the person or being we find to meet those needs can be quite unexpected. Singer, who cannot talk or hear, becomes that person

Coker 5 for the characters of Mick Kelly, Dr. Copeland, and Jake Blount by providing a quiet, nonjudgmental acceptance of their confidences....