The novel takes place at an army base in the U.S. state of Georgia. Private
Ellgee Williams, a solitary man full of secrets and desires, has served for two years and is assigned to stable duty. After doing yard work at the home of Capt. Pender ton, he sees the captain’s wife nude and becomes obsessed with her. Capt. Weldon Pender ton and his wife
Leonora, a feeble-minded Army brat, have a fiery relationship and she takes in many lovers.
Leonora’s current lover, Major Morris Langdon, lives with his depressed wife Alison and her flamboyant Filipino houseboy Analects, near the Pender tons. Capt. Pender ton, as a closeted homosexual, realizes that he is physically attracted to Pvt. Williams, but remains unaware of the private’s attraction to Leonora. …show more content…
Nonetheless, The Ballad of the Sad Café is generally regarded as one of her best works of fiction. The 1950s, 1960, and 1970s saw renewed interest in McCullers’ body of work. During these decades numerous studies appeared on the novella that focused on issues such as the role of the narrator, the nature of love, the relationship between the text and the traditional ballad form, its mythical qualities, its connection to the Southern Gothic tradition, and its representation of sexuality and gender. The author is acutely concerned with presenting an atmosphere within which rather bizarre characters can interact and seem plausible. She undertakes detailed descriptive passages to bring into focus the aspects of the town, the café, and the people that enable the reader to comprehend and believe the action of the story. Although the story is told from a third person point of view, there is not an omniscient narrator but rather one who observes acutely and from time to time digresses to comment on the action, or even on the philosophy of the events of the story. The strength of the story’s characterizations depends to a large extent
Ellgee Williams, a solitary man full of secrets and desires, has served for two years and is assigned to stable duty. After doing yard work at the home of Capt. Pender ton, he sees the captain’s wife nude and becomes obsessed with her. Capt. Weldon Pender ton and his wife
Leonora, a feeble-minded Army brat, have a fiery relationship and she takes in many lovers.
Leonora’s current lover, Major Morris Langdon, lives with his depressed wife Alison and her flamboyant Filipino houseboy Analects, near the Pender tons. Capt. Pender ton, as a closeted homosexual, realizes that he is physically attracted to Pvt. Williams, but remains unaware of the private’s attraction to Leonora. …show more content…
Nonetheless, The Ballad of the Sad Café is generally regarded as one of her best works of fiction. The 1950s, 1960, and 1970s saw renewed interest in McCullers’ body of work. During these decades numerous studies appeared on the novella that focused on issues such as the role of the narrator, the nature of love, the relationship between the text and the traditional ballad form, its mythical qualities, its connection to the Southern Gothic tradition, and its representation of sexuality and gender. The author is acutely concerned with presenting an atmosphere within which rather bizarre characters can interact and seem plausible. She undertakes detailed descriptive passages to bring into focus the aspects of the town, the café, and the people that enable the reader to comprehend and believe the action of the story. Although the story is told from a third person point of view, there is not an omniscient narrator but rather one who observes acutely and from time to time digresses to comment on the action, or even on the philosophy of the events of the story. The strength of the story’s characterizations depends to a large extent