The Limits of Human Communication

The limitations of Human communication in the book "The heart is a lonely hunter"
contributes to the characters be less free, more unknown and lonely.

The book "The heart is a lonely hunter" by Carson McCullers was published in 1940,
just as America emerged from the Great Depression, the worst economic collapse in the
country's history. The novel considers the lives of five main characters, inhabitants of a
small Southern town. It novel use a third-person narrator who does not participate in the
novel's action, but has access to the private thoughts and actions of the characters.
Some characters are interfering by a physical disability, while others fail at effective
communication because they are incapable of connecting emotionally.

The distance and physical limitations as a barrier to effective communication. In the first
scenes John Singer and Spiros Antonapoulos, both deaf, share a comfortable life
together. After work each day, the men return to the home they share. Singer relates
the day's events to his friend through sign language: "At home Singer was always
talking to Antonapoulos. His hands shaped the words in a swift series of designs. His
face was eager and his grey - green eyes sparkled brightly. With his thin, strong hands
he told Antonapoulo all that had happened during the day" (pag.8). But all change after
Antonapoulos is committed to an asylum and the distance make difficult their
communication: "He talked and talked. And although his hands never paused to rest he
could not tell all that he had to say. He wanted to talk to Antonapoulos of all the
thoughts that had ever been in his mind and heart, but there was not time" (pag. 12).
After a time, Singer realize that his friend has died "I have taken out a pistol from his
pocket and put a bullet in his chest" (286). It might be his lack of communication with the
outside world that incline to his suicide. Just after that, he comes across three other
mutes, and is given the opportunity to create new connections, and maybe start over
with his life. But he is unable to communicate even with them. When Antonapoulos dies,
Jack Singer loses the one person with whom he could communicate. Singer faces a
unique difficulty in the novel in that he must rely on his hands to communicate, but the
problem is, not everyone speaks sign language. So, the people with whom he can truly
communicate are far between and few.

A person can feel alone even when surrounded by many people because instead of
bridges person builds walls. Other character is Mick Kell, a girl of twelve years, who
has a great attachment to the music. She lives in one of the biggest houses on the north
side of town. In this house, she lives with her parents, and with some of the main
characters. Even so, she feels lonely "how lonesome a person could be in a crowded
house", and for that she takes refuge in the "inside room" her private thoughts and
feelings: “She sat down on the steps and laid her head on her knees. She went into the
inside room. With her it was like there was two places—the inside room and the outside
room. School and the family and the things that happened every day were in the outside
room. Mister Singer was in both rooms. [...] The songs she thought about were there.
And the symphony" (p. 145). Mick Kelly cannot communicate with anyone in her family
so she plans to have a party to relate more with his classmates, but even so she
continues lock himself in his inside room. Mick seems to understand: that people are
divided into different parts, that nobody can ever fully know another person, that it is
difficult to communicate to another person but also, she seems to understand that the
music is another form of communication or expression and she knows the way that
music speaks to people.

Loneliness is not emptiness or abandonment, it is the company of silence, the

conversation with ourselves. Jake Blount is a wanderer, alcoholic, a figure of the
Depression, but is interesting the fact that he is a newcomer in the town and he is alone
is his radical social viewpoints. when he comes to the town, he passes his time in a
restaurant, the name of the place is the New York Cafe and Biff Brannon is its
proprietary. According to the Biff’s wife who is annoyed with her husband because of
the presence of this man, Blount is a bum and a freak: " In the day time he takes them
naps at the back, and then at night you feed him dinners and beer. For a week now he
hasn’t paid one cent. And all his wild talking and carrying - on will ruin any decent
trade". Jack Blount meets to Singer in the restaurant and he feels a great connection to
him: "Blount paid no attention to anyone in the palace except the mute. They were both
looking at each other. The mute's eyes were cold and gentle as a cat's and all his body
seemed to listen. The drunk man was in a frenzy" (pag. 24). From that moment, jack
consider to singer an important part of his life: "You're the only one in this town who
catches what I mean" (pag. 24). Blount appreciates the fact that Singer is listening with
his whole body. The problem is, for all this intent listening he's doing, there is not much
understanding. Jake's emotional and physical restlessness seems to spill over into his
everyday life and actions. So, it makes sense that he seeks out Singer: this is a
relationship that represents Jake's search for a sort of peace. Jake see in Singer a
person who understanding him and even if that is not real, Singer is exactly what he
needs: a quiet listener who lets Jake feels free from judgment like he was speaking with
himself.

Family troubles, pride and prejudice brings the loneliness. This describe very well the
last two characters Biff Brannon and the Dr. Benedict Copeland. For one hand, the
regular family troubles between Biff Brannon and his wife and her sudden death, it
become him in a distanced, observant, and quiet person. In the other hand, the Dr.
Copeland is separate from his family and from other black people because of his
education and viewpoints. Copeland is so strongly committed to his beliefs that he
cannot seem to have a relationship with anyone around him. He does not talk to people
as preach at them, and when he listens to others, he only hears contradictions to his
philosophy, never a person expressing ideas. This is where the prejudice comes in.
Even Copeland has some racist sentiments in him: "The feeling that would come on him
was a black, terrible, Negro feeling. He would try to sit in his office and read and
meditate until he could be calm again" (pag 91). For his beliefs, he is frequently in
conflict with his family. It ends up being a vicious cycle: Copeland's stubborn opinion,
resentment from his family, his desire to control them, Copeland's stubborn opinion, her
daughter explains it like: "A person can't pick up they children and just squeeze them to
which-a-way they want them to be. Whether it hurt them or not. Whether it right or
wrong. You done tried that hard as any man could try. And now I the only one of us that
would come in this here house and sit with you like this." (pag 72) Copeland's relations
with his family are a source of great pain for him. There is such a huge gulf between him
and his children. They believe different things, they see and experience the world in
wholly different ways.

To conclusion, the essential loneliness of individuals in a world full of other individuals

as lonely as themselves is the way about which "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter" is
constructed. "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter" is all about communication and
conversation. In fact, all novel is structured around people talking to each other, and
revealing their inner selves. The fact that the central character is a deaf mute, though,
shows just how the communication can be problematic, especially for characters who
have trouble finding their words, or characters who speak differently. Human
communication proves ineffective and unsatisfying when are built limits and barriers.
The different characters illustrate the innate need for people to communicate. Each
character wants to share his or her inner thoughts with another person, but they fail
because of the limitations they find, both in others and in themselves.

Maria Alejandra López Gaitán

References

SparkNotes Editors. (n.d.). SparkNote on The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. Retrieved November 3,
2017, from http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/lonelyhunter/

Carson McCullers (2000) The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. London, Penguin edition.