ABSTRACT
“What is the main idea of this story?” Did you just cringe as you read this question? It is one virtually all of us recognize from our school years, and I suspect some of us have asked it of our own students. Commercial materials and assessments ask questions about literature that discourage expansive thinking and reinforce the idea that there is “a perfect reading hiding out there somewhere” (Probst, 1994, p. 38). Imagine a multiple-choice exam for Carson McCullers’ The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1940, 1968). It might read something like this:
Who is the Christ figure in the novel?
John Singer
Dr. Benedict Mady Copeland
Willie Copeland
Spiros Antonapoulos
What do we know about Mick Kelly by the end of the story?
She has given up her tomboy ways and embraced her entry into female adulthood.
She has been utterly defeated by poverty and social injustice.
She retains something of her androgynous character, and represents the 22-year-old author.
Though she now has a full-time job at Woolworth’s to add to the family income, she still has hope that her dreams involving music and travel can someday become a reality.
What is the primary theme of the novel?
Racism, classism, and sexism are so strong in this 1930s Southern mill town that most individuals do not have a chance of succeeding. The story addresses systemic inequality.
Everyone is seeking connection, but every individual is ultimately alone, unable to understand others or be understood by others.
88Everyone is connected to everyone else, in ways both visible and unperceived by the characters. We are not alone.
Religion is central to the story, expressed in a multitude of ways. Love is the only answer to the evils and plights of society.
