742 McCullers, Carson
taking command of that wild spirit. Another way
this ardent lifestyle is challenged in the text is when
an older Mexican ranch hand tells John Grady and
Rawlins that horses innately love war, just like men.
The boys came to Mexico pursuing a romantic life
of passion, something they believed existed in nature
and the older traditions, which drew them to horses
and ranching; however, they discover that such a
lifestyle leads both to an exciting life and to violence
and warfare.
While the rest of Texas and America slips into
settled lives and more modernized occupations, John
Grady and Rawlins seek to return to a time where
the wills of men were tested against nature. Their
journey through the desert into Mexico tests their
resolve and allows them to mature as men. The
desert symbolizes the brutal forces of nature, which
demand greatness from men. In addition, horses
function as the primary symbol of nature in All the
Pretty Horses, and their defining characteristic is
their passionate wills. For John Grady, the beauty
of a horse is found in its desire for freedom and
its courage, qualities that he also admires in men.
While he loves horses and admires their freedom,
John Grady seems to be happiest when he is taming
them. Thus, the wild passion of nature that both
boys seek is something to be controlled and not
admired from a distance. The boys also learn that
the passionate will they attribute to a horse’s beauty
is the same will that causes them to love war. In this
sense, nature and the ardent will that defines it are
not shown to be inherently good or peaceful, but
rather are capable of producing violence and blood-
shed as well as beauty and passion.
Alan Noble
mcCuLLErS, CarSon The Heart Is
a Lonely Hunter (1940)
In the years preceding the United States entry into
World War II, the lonely residents of a small south-
ern town attempt to understand each other despite
social differences. Bereft of a close friend, who falls
ill and goes to a hospital, the deaf mute John Singer
becomes a customer at the local café, where several
townspeople seek him out. The quiet owner of the
all-night café, Biff Brannon, finds in Singer an
ideal listener to his philosophical observations of
life, even as his own life seems to pass him by. Roy
Blount, an itinerant labor organizer and alcoholic,
finds sanctuary for a time at the café and comes
to believe that Singer sympathizes with his obses-
sion for socialist reform when the local workers
fail to do so. Similarly estranged from his family
and the black community by his beliefs in Marx-
ist revolution, the aging doctor Copeland finds
solace in Singer’s company. The young and artistic
Mick Kelly believes that she has found in Singer a
kindred soul with whom to share her passion for
music, which she seeks out on solitary walks around
town. While characters’ separate quests illustrate
themes of American business, communism, social-
ism, and artistic expression, they do not find lasting
fulfillment in Singer or in their failed attempts
to understand each other. Singer himself silently
mourns the absence of his sick friend while his
visitors see him as a source of comfort. McCullers’s
novel thus explores universal themes of community
and individualism while grounding them in specific
economic, political, and artistic movements of late-
1930s America.
Tim Bryantalienation in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
The friendship of the two mutes, Spiros Antonapou-
los and John Singer, introduced in the opening pages
of The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, demonstrates the
alienation one can experience even when not alone.
Although very different, the two men are always
together. The self-indulgent Antonapoulos steals
food from his cousin’s shop and generally spends his
days seeking his own physical comforts. In contrast,
the attentive Singer is more aware of others’ needs,
including those of his friend, whom he accompanies
around their nameless southern town after leaving
work at the silversmith. While Singer is more aware
of others’ feelings and feels a great need to commu-
nicate his thoughts to his friend, Antonapoulos is
uncommunicative in word and deed, never commit-
ting a selfless act on behalf of his friend or anyone
else. Despite Singer’s deep need to communicate, it
is doubtful that his friend understands him com-
pletely or even cares to do so. Thus, the psycho-
logical nature of their alienation from each other