“Each one of them looked at Singer as though in expectation.”
This sentence stuck out to me in Carson McCuller’s The Heart is a Lonely Hunter because it illustrates how many of the characters have come to depend on John Singer. When they are alone with Singer, they find it easy to talk to him despite his handicaps. They are mesmerized by his ability to connect with them on a level that could only be described as intimate. However, they fall silent when others are in the room. This may be because the characters are of different genders, ethnicities, and ideologies. The tension in the room emphasizes the themes of loneliness and isolation that are prevalent in the novel. Each character copes with their loneliness by finding someone to connect with. For many of the characters, Singer is that someone. For Singer himself, he feels that the only person who can understand him is Antonapoulos. When Singer visits Antonapoulos at the asylum, there is a brief sentence that mentions another man in the ward with Antonapoulos: “He [Singer] envied the old man because he lived with Antonapoulos day after day. Singer would have exchanged places with him joyfully (McCullers, 191).” We don’t realize how badly Singer wants to be with Antonapoulos until the end of the second part in the novel.
Bradyn, you are exactly right about this tension in the room. I mean, in this passage, we can really feel the tension and experience it. It's palpable, in a way. Why do you think that though the characters desire to connect with others, they do not want to connect with others in this scene? What is that about?
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