The purpose of this thesis is to discuss Carson McCullers' treatment of
the origins and the impact of human loneliness, as well as to examine her
vision if the future of mankind. McCullers' lifelong experience of
physical and spiritual anguish caused her to be obsessed with the theme
of loneliness in her works. What she stresses in her novels is individual
loneliness and its violent consequences. Her sympathy for characters is
brought about by her conviction that loneliness need not disappoint man's
hope. Once man renounces his selfishness and prejudice, and learns to
sympathize with others'suffering, he can find the path to happiness,
peace, and harmony.
The first chapter introduces the interrelations between the characters,
the thenes,and the backgrounds of McCullers' novels. Each of the
following five chapters is devoted to one of her five novels:Chapter II,
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1940); Chapter III, Reflections in a Golden
Eye (1941); Chapter IV, The Ballad of the Sad Cafe (1943); Chapter V, The
Member of the Wedding (1946); and Chapter VI, Clock without Hands (1961),
In these novels, McCullers considers selfishness and indifference as the
major factors of human loneliness, and emphasizes the value of brotherly
love and symapathy. The concluding chapter sums up the various patterns
of lineliness and violence in McCullers' novels and evaluates her
artistic acnievement.