Marginal Characters’ Living Space In Mc Cullers’s Works

Mc Cullers’ s works mainly focus on the marginalized groups in society.The characters in her works often have defects,physical or mental deformity.The deformity gives them a sense of inferiority.They feel they cannot fit in with the world and are detached from the society.Therefore,external discrimination and self-denial squeeze the living space of these marginal figures.In The Member of the Wedding and The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter,Mc Cullers conveys the thought that human is born to be caught.The moment we are born we are limited.Most of Mc Cullers’ works express the unresolved contradiction between the self and the world.She thinks this fundamental conflict is endless.It cannot be eliminated once and for all.It is a dynamic process.Once the old conflict resolves and the new one will emerge.However,she provides some way out for these marginal characters to solve the conflict temporarily and expands their extremely squeezed living space.The first chapter of this thesis is about music space.It offers an infinite imaginary space for the characters.It brings them from the repressed real world to the intoxicated world of music,and obtains inner peace through the contemplation of art.The second chapter is about creating the family space,forming their own triadic relation which is what Mc Cullers called “the we of me”.Interior space also makes up for their cramped external living space.The third part analyzes the establishment of the living space of marginal characters from the public space such as café,kitchen,and the room of the mute.This thesis examines the construction of characters’ living space from the perspectives of art,family relations and space to show Mc Cullers’ s humanitarian concern for marginalized groups.