Loneliness And Failure:Queerness In The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter is McCullers’ first novel and her best-known work.Although Chinese and foreign scholars have studied this novel in depth,it is mainly analyzed from the perspective of solitude,feminism,God’s perspective and social criticism and so on.With the help of queer theory,this thesis elucidates the author’s construction of queer identity in this novel.Queer theory is a new theory of sexuality that rose in the West in the 1990s.The concept of "queer" as a reference to a social group includes all those who are not in conformity with mainstream culture and dominant gender or sexual norms in terms of sexual orientation.Queer means confrontation——against both gay assimilation and heterosexual oppression.On the basis of exploring the three main characters’ queerness in the novel,this thesis will reveal that the contradiction between the rationality of these characters in the theoretical context of queer theory and the transgression in the context of traditional culture is the fundamental cause of the tragedy of these characters.This thesis can be divided into five chapters.The first chapter mainly introduces McCullers’ life experience and writing career:first of all,analyzing the author’s own experiences and personality which lead to her personal marginality;secondly,pointing out that most of the marginal characters and emotional problems in her works come from her own extremely dramatic emotional experiences,which makes her works exude such unique charm.The second chapter firstly reviews the origin and definition of the word queer and describes the main queer characters in McCullers’ works;next,it introduces queer theory,and points out a series of keywords,that is,queer,gender instability and sexual diversity.The third chapter mainly analyzes the queerness of three protagonists in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter:the deaf-mute Singer,the lonely girl Mick and the restaurant owner Biff.Chapter four dissects the loneliness and tragic ending caused by their marginalized identity:first of all,it analyzes the marginality of the existence of the three queers from three perspectives:society,family and friends;then analyzing their struggle against gender norms as queers and their final failure;finally,from the two aspects of economic and social background,analyzing the reasons for their failure.The fifth chapter summarizes how McCullers uses the queers in her works to challenge heterosexual hegemony and further depicts their hard living conditions.With the help of the queers in McCullers’ works,this thesis appeals to the world to face up to the gender orientation different from heterosexual values,respect the diversity of gender orientation and do not wear tainted glasses to treat queers.Like ordinary people,queers have the right to pursue true love and to be the master of their gender.Thus this thesis aims to call on the world to break the shackles of traditional ideas and understand and respect queers and their love.