On The Loneliness In Modern Novels-An Analysis Of Carson McCullers's The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter And The Ballad Of The Sad Cafe

Carson McCullers is a prominent modern American writer with a distinctive style. She is famous for her profound insight and unique presentation of the theme of loneliness. Her works have a special lyrical style, prevailing melancholy and touching atmosphere as well as realistic effect of tragicomedies, which would make the reader feel much involved and touched. Many of her works, including The Ballad of the Sad Café, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter and The Members of the Wedding, have been widely criticized by famous reviewers. Her works also obtains a lot of rewards and much fame, with some of them edited into dramas. Since decades of years critics have analyzed her works from various angles, with the aim of decoding her particular theme of spiritual isolation, and fixing her a definite place in literary history. However, there are certain limitations in the current critical condition of this writer. The New Criticism treats McCullers'loneliness the same as the loneliness long existing in human history, and with no distinctions from the traditional loneliness; the concept of theme is regarded as the elaboration of textual irony and paradox, with no stress on the social and moral meanings embodied in the novels. Feminist theory and Queer theory make supplements to the previous criticism by defining the feminine identity and researching on the homosexual spiritual isolations. However, little research has viewed her loneliness under the ideological trends of modernism. For a writer who uses her own unique way to present the meaning of modernist loneliness, it is quite necessary to dig into the modernist features of her theme, which would be beneficial for a deeper understanding of her theme of loneliness and discover more values in her works. The thesis analyzes from various aspects the modernist loneliness embodied in her work, including first the definition of modernist loneliness, stating the difference of modernist loneliness from the traditional loneliness and delineating the connotation, the causes, the solution and the extent of modernist loneliness, which changes dramatically in modern society. Then the thesis analyzes in detail how McCullers'two novels present in their own manners the typical modernist loneliness, with a comparison of the common features in both novels, aiming at reaching a deeper understanding of the similar thematic concern of both novels. Another significant part of the thesis is the deep-going analysis of the reasons for modern loneliness in McCullers'works. This part brings to light the causes why the modernist loneliness in McCullers'works is different from the traditional loneliness, by this proving in a further step the distinctive modernist element in her theme of loneliness. The significance of this thesis is that it reads the familiar theme of loneliness in Carson McCullers works through modernist perspective. Through sufficient evidence and analysis, the thesis reaches the conclusion that McCullers'theme of loneliness is quite modernist, and she can be really regarded as a special spokesperson of modernist literature.