A Study Of The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter From The Perspective Of Female Initiation Story

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter was published in1940and has received a goodreputation in many fields. Especially in recent years, it has been many specialists andscholars’ favor. It is one representative writing of American famous female writerCarson McCullers’. The novel describes a picture of American northern town throughseveral main characters’ introduction. It reflects their perspective and views on life andlivelihood in order to expresses the lonely feelings. Until now, many scholars try toanalyze it from different angles and get great achievement.The thesis tries to analyze the little girl Mick’s growing from the view of femaleinitiation story on the basis of the theory of female initiation story in order to analyzethe girl how to get out off the puzzle and make the value of life come true. The thesiswill be divided into six sections:The Introduction part will give a brief introduction of the writer Cason McCullers,her works, the novel The Heart is a Lonely Hunter’s content and its current researchstatus both in domestic country and foreign countries. Chapter One introduces thedissertation’s theoretical basis systemically from the development of initiation story andthe general characteristics of initiation story in order to provide detailed theoreticalevidence. Chapter Two from the perspectives of physical puzzle and psychologicalpuzzle analyzes Mick’s puzzle in clothing, acting and speaking, male idols and buddies’influences on Mick. Chapter Three analyzes Mick’s awaking of feminine consciousnessfrom the perspectives of initiation guides, initiation party, and the significances ofMick’s awaking of feminine consciousness in order to analyze Mick’s growing processstep by step. Chapter Four analyzes the novel’s inheritance and transcendence totraditional initiation story from the perspectives of the inheritance to traditional story inautobiographical components, the inheritance to traditional story in structure, and thetranscendence to traditional story in initiation guide.Finally it draws a conclusion that The Heart is a Lonely Hunter is a representativework of female initiation. It provides a new angle of the novel and gives an evaluationand discussion in initiation stories.