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MonkeyNotes-The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
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Notes
This chapter is devoted to Doctor CopelandÂ’s lonely misery. His
isolation grows out of two things. The first is the fact that he is a
man educated in philosophy and science, both of which view the
world with skepticism, and he is living in a community that is
educated in the submissiveness of a racialized religion. He can see
clearly when they are speaking out of internalized racism and he
cannot communicate it to them. For instance, when Grandpa and
the others describe their images of God and angels, they describe
white people. They have internalized the racism of their society
and projected it onto the cosmos, the natural and divine order of
things. So when Grandpa thinks of the Judgment Day when he will
be rewarded for a life of submission, he thinks God will make him
white.
The second reason for Doctor CopelandÂ’s isolation seems to be the
problem he has in recognizing other peopleÂ’s integrity, their
separateness from him. He thinks of people as instruments capable
of fulfilling his ideas. So he raised his four children, not with the
love of a father who looks for what is unique and beautiful in each
of his children, but with a view toward shaping them into
instruments for the betterment of the African-American
community. When he asks Portia about her job, she starts talking
to him about where her heart is. ItÂ’s in her concern for the children,
her thoughts about MickÂ’s personality and future, her sense that
she is part of a struggling family. He doesnÂ’t hear any of this. He
interrupts her to tell her to stick up for herself in terms of economic
justice. Therefore, when he is with people in his community, he
never makes connection with them and is always feeling frustrated.
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