The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter

Loneliness is so central to McCullers’s exploration of self and community that she includes it in the title. The title from Scottish poet William Sharp’s poem “The Lonely Hunter,” in which a young woman mourning a lover considers joining him in death. The secondary characters in this novel project their loneliness onto John, falsely believing that he understands them because he possesses secret wisdom. They are mistaken because while John understands their words, he doesn’t understand the truth that is different for each person. John is not particularly insightful, unlike Biff, who is keenly observant of those around him. However, the characters do not believe that Biff has any special insight because they do not see him as an enigma. The characters seek John out when they need company, falsely believing that their beliefs about him mean that he comforts them from their loneliness. The pressures of these friendships have an adverse effect on John, who is ironically made lonelier because his so-called friends use him for their loneliness without considering how they can reach out to him and make him feel less alone. In featuring characters from diverse backgrounds who all suffer from loneliness, the novel is a larger social commentary about loneliness as a human condition.