A Queer Study On Carson McCuilers’ The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter

Carson Mc C ullers, a renowned Southern writer in the first half of the 20 t h century, has under her belt a line of novels and novelettes delineating both the mindscape of rebellious protagonists and the landscape of desolate Dixieland. O f all her works, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter and The Ballad of the Sad Café earn her enormous reputation and enjoy a worldwide readership. Rendering the lonesome human hearts with minuteness and precision, Mc C ullers gives voice to these marginalized souls and draws significance from their meager existence.This thesis aims to take an in-depth look into The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, perching on the queer theory. While critics from home and abroad have contributed considerably to the novel, most of them tend to interpret it from the perspectives of lonesome theme and C hrist-like symbolism. The Queer theory blossoms out of feminist theory, flourishes in the 1990 s in the United States, and illuminates the agonizing life of the growing numbers of gays and lesbians who live in a purgatory of alienation and despise while yearn for understanding of and acceptance into the society, revolt against the gender norms and redefine gender as a choice. This thesis couples Judith Butler’s queer theory with gender transgressions of the three main protagonists.Altogether five chapters constitute this thesis. Chapter One is a prelude to the whole thesis. It paints a brief picture of Carson Mc C ullers’ works, her career as a novelist, her fluid gender identity and sexuality, and the status quo of the academic studies conducted on her works. C hapter Two centers on the word “queer”. First, it looks back into origin of “queer” along with its modern connotation—referring to gay and lesbian. Then it elaborates on how Southern fiction is closely bound up with queer protagonists. Finally, it introduces the key words, namely, subjectivity, identity, desire, gender performativity and melancholia of gender, which construct her revolutionary queer theory. C hapter Three pores through Mick Kelly, John Singer and Biff Brannon’s respective performance of their gender and struggle against the overriding gender norms. Chapter Four analyzes the interior and exterior reasons that lie behind their final failure to go farther on the path of experimenting and searching for their gender identity and sexuality. Chapter Five reflects on the valor shown in the doomed struggle of each of the three protagonists and evaluates how fluid gender identity exerts its indelible impact on the emancipation of women and on illuminating the lives of those who are still locked in a gendered body. Even though more than half a century has passed since its publication, the unyielding spirits bring hope and warmth to those who are still grappling with their gender identity.