Victims In The Heterosexual Society: A Queer Interpretation Of The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter

Carson McCullers is a talented woman writer in America in the20th century,and her novels often focus on the marginal person of the mainstream society andembody the theme of loneliness. The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter is McCullers’s firstnovel which establishes her reputation; and the Modern Library ranks it seventeenthon its list of the100best English-language novels of the20th century. With mild andexquisite tone, McCullers shows us the sufferings of three queers’ relegation associal victims. Singer takes his deep love for Antonapoulos as the pillar of life,however, homosexual love is unacceptable, and he finally chooses death. Micklingers between two worlds, but because of gender dysphoria, she is finally shut outof the “inside room” and loses the most beautiful part in her soul. Biff strugglesbetween masculinity and femininity within himself, androgyny phenomena makehim feel lonely and confused all day long.For a long time, academic circles pay much attention on the spiritual isolation inMcCullers’s novels, while the queer phenomena are rarely noticed or discussed.From the perspective of queer theory and through an intensive reading on The HeartIs a Lonely Hunter, this thesis tries to analyze the dilemma of three queers in thenovel, study the reasons why they are relegated as social victims and how the authordeconstructs traditional concepts of sex and sexuality through the queer experienceof the three main characters.This thesis is composed of three parts. First is introduction, in this part,information about Carson McCullers and The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter is wellintroduced. Researches about McCullers’s works from home and abroad arepresented. This part also points out the innovation of this thesis, which lies in theinterpretation under the guide of queer theory, which is well explained. The secondpart is the body, which is divided into three chapters. Chapter one analyzes thereasons of queers’ relegation as social victims. Chapter two analyzes three queers’ inadaptation of their surroundings and reveals their dilemma in theheterosexual society. Chapter three analyzes the author’s deconstruction of traditionalsexual orientation and gender dualism. The third part is conclusion, which points outthat The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter reveals queers’ sufferings as the victims ofheterosexual hegemony society; at the same time, it emphasizes that what McCullersadvocates are to pursue the free development of gender and its relationship, as wellas to treat queers fairly and justly.