50 pages • 1-hour read
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
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Character Analysis
John Singer
John is the protagonist of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. He is an engraver who works at a jewelry store and is one of the only men who is deaf in his community. John spends his free time with his best friend Spiros until Spiros is committed to a psychiatric hospital and John finds himself alone in a community that is obsessed with their own hopes and fears. John is unique as a protagonist because he does not act as much as he is acted upon by other characters. In his search for companionship, he allows others to use him as their sounding board and does not do anything to set personal boundaries or assert his views, which he could do through writing or speaking: He is deaf from birth, and though he can speak, he often chooses not to, which further complicates his character as someone who yearns to be understood but does not take advantage of the abilities he has to communicate.
Because John is passive, people project contrasting ideas onto him: He is judged for his deafness but also celebrated as a wise man. Because he nods along to whatever anyone says, his interlocutors assume he is like them. John dies by suicide because of his isolation in a society that uses him to confirm their own beliefs. His only purpose is to be understood, but he ends up being misunderstood, underappreciated, and rejected by the very society that seems to adore him. John is a Christ-like figure because he martyrs himself for the sake of others, but McCullers emphasizes that in real life, someone who only sacrifices without receiving anything in return—especially when it comes to relationships— cannot survive.
Mick Kelly
Mick is the daughter of the boardinghouse owners. She is a “tomboy” and enjoys playing with boys her age. She has a hidden passion for music: Though she doesn’t know how to play music, she constantly hears music in her mind. This makes Mick lead a kind of double life in which she operates in the outside world but is mainly focused on the world of her thoughts.
Mick’s subplot is a coming-of-age story. Her transition into womanhood means parting with the things she loves, and she has mixed feelings about growing up.
Her coming-of-age arc is both voluntary and involuntary. Mick chooses to grow up, but she also has no choice but to grow up. Growing up is inevitable, and many external pressures contribute to this growth. But Mick’s internal life also motivates her to grow up: This manifests most in her having sex with Harry. Mick is a character of contrasts: masculine and feminine, child and adult, worker and artist. She has dreams that extend beyond her smalltown life: Mick is determined to become a musician, and she doesn’t let her financial reality deter this dream. As with other characters, Mick’s isolation comes from her inability to communicate her inner passions in a mutually supportive relationship. She believes she finds that relationship in John, but their connection proves to be an illusion.
Jake Blount
Jake is a stranger to town, a nomad who moves from town to town, working in manual labor jobs and searching for like-minded people. Jake flirts with socialist ideas, but he doesn’t know how to truly change society. He is disillusioned by how much people misunderstand the world around them, so he believes his role in society is to be a type of sociopolitical preacher. However, Jake doesn’t preach; he rants at people and gets drunk. His alcoholism is a by-product of his internal conflict. Jake feels alone in the world because he believes he is privy to secret wisdom that few others understand. At the same time, Jake plows his way through interactions, expressing his thoughts without listening to others. Jake assumes that John understands him, though there is no proof to this besides the fact that John can’t help but nod along because Jake doesn’t speak John’s language. This one-sided friendship contributes to Jake’s inflated sense of self.
Despite his many flaws, Jake ends the novel on a note of hope. He sets off again, heavy with the burden of his message but feeling that change is possible. Despite his criticisms of the South, Jake doesn’t imagine leaving the South. This emphasizes an importance of loyalty over prioritizing personal happiness. Because Jake’s happiness is tied with societal change, he can nurture his dream to contribute to this change. Even if change never comes, Jake can continue wandering, learning, and striving.
Dr. Benedict Copeland
Dr. Copeland is the town’s local Black doctor. Due to segregation laws, Dr. Copeland is forced to remain within the Black community and is not permitted in certain white spaces. Dr. Copeland’s sense of self is tied to the protection of his dignity in the face of rampant institutionalized racism. Dr. Copeland’s mode of survival is to nurture his strong intellect, thereby disproving the racist idea that Black people cannot be more than enslaved people or servants. But Dr. Copeland’s ferocious intellect and passion for uplifting the Black race comes at a price. He is so stubborn in his beliefs about how a Black person should live and be that alienates his children.
Dr. Copeland’s mind is changed when his son Willie loses his feet in prison. He realizes that no matter how hard he tries to be and appear educated, nonviolent, and a hero to the Black community, white institutions of power will continue to oppress him because they don’t want to assimilate the Black community but irradicate it. This revelation confirms all of Dr. Copeland’s worst fears and leads to an existential crisis. He misses his family, but his pride forbids him to admit he is lonely. Through his experiences with police brutality, Dr. Copeland realizes that friends and family are the key to real change and real community. Dr. Copeland is yet another character who rejects the companionship he is offered, highlighting that even people who are intelligent and self-aware can become mired in deep loneliness.
Biff Brannon
Biff is the owner and manager of New York Café, the local café-bar in town. He keeps his café open all night long to ease his loneliness. After his wife’s passing, he becomes infatuated with Mick because her youth reminds him of his own. Biff gets over this attraction as Mick grows into young adulthood, but it signifies that Biff is lonely and has wasted companionship with his deceased wife.
Biff likes to feel that he has a purpose, which is why he takes an interest in Jake. Biff doesn’t judge people so much as he observes them: He finds characters like Jake interesting because they exhibit contradictions. He is curious about the people around him and likes to have them nearby, but he does not form close connections with them. Biff has a nagging question in his mind throughout the novel though he never quite articulates the question itself. When he discovers the answer, it comes in the form of an out-of-body revelation that is explored through imagery and feeling. McCullers doesn’t reveal the full extent of Biff’s realization, highlighting that the nature of self and one’s desires are ultimately unknowable.
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