A Lonely Hunter Symbolism

Carson McCullers’s novel The Heart is a Lonely Hunter can be read as a religious allegory that validates why people depend on religion and religious figures through the symbolism of John Singer as a religious figure. This struggle is portrayed with the interaction between Singer, whom is romanticized in a religious way, and other characters such as Dr. Copeland and Mick Kelly. As a man who opposes religion and his family’s religious beliefs, Dr. Copeland seeks comfort and consoling nearly parallel to his family's actions towards the Christian god when he is in the company of John Singer. Dr. Copeland has had images of a Caucasian idealistic approach to Christianity and the Christian god from his family. Portrayals of god from his family members such as Highboy being that the face of god was “a large white man’s face with a white beard and blue eyes”, brought about a sense of agitation for Dr. Copeland whenever religion became relevant (McCullers 176). He, in one instance had to hold himself from verbally lashing out at his kin, leaves his family reunion abruptly during their religious …show more content…
Similar to Kohler’s argument, Murray argues that all of the book’s characters act as symbols of different struggles in society but ultimately Singer symbolizes a need for religion or acts a s a religious allegory throughout the novel. Murray writes, “the reader wonders what the effect of Singer's death will be on those who have come to depend on him, for he is their "sort of home-made God,". Murray becomes more specific in her argument than Kohler, supporting the idea that while many of the books characters such as Mick, Dr. Copeland, and Blount see Singer as a religious figure, making him a symbol of religion and a religious allegory throughout the novel, each character romanticizes Singer and portrays him in their own