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MonkeyNotes-The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
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Back at the Kelly house, Mick sits out on the porch with her
brothers and some other neighbor kids. Her younger brother,
Bubber, is playing with a rifle and shoots a young girl named Baby
Wilson. Mick tries to teach him a lesson by telling him she is dead
and that he will be electrocuted. Bubber becomes so distraught that
he tries to run away. He is found, but is never the same again.
After that, he will not be friends with anyone and he begins to go
by his proper name, George. At Doctor CopelandÂ’s house, it is
Christmas. He has an annual Christmas party in which he judges
for an essay contest. The winning essay this year is on the desire
on the writerÂ’s part to make a separate nation for African
Americans and to get revenge against white people for centuries of
oppression. Doctor Copeland gives a speech at the party and is
very happy to see that his friends understand what he is talking
about.
The town has become very restless. Many new tent shows spring
up and people are getting angry about their poverty. Singer walks
the streets and is often followed. He speaks to many people all of
whom make of him a sort of savior. Singer has begun to think of
Antonapoulos as perfect. He has forgotten all of his friendÂ’s flaws
and limitations. He writes him a long letter about his four new
friends and about their life together before their separation. Back at
the cafe, Biff has begun to wear his late wifeÂ’s perfume and has
taken up home decorating. He remembers his childhood. His
mother had taken away his favorite box of soft things when he was
only six. He visits with Lucille, his sister-in-law, and her daughter
Baby, and then watches as Singer and Jake and Mick talk. At
MickÂ’s house, thinks have become worse than ever. They have to
pay for Baby WilsonÂ’s medical expenses and have lost the house.
They now rent it and the children often go hungry. Mick has lately
begun to develop a friendship with Harry Minowitz, her next door
neighbor. In Doctor CopelandÂ’s life, he finds Portia one day in his
kitchen drunk. She tells him that Willie has been tortured by white
prison guards and his feet amputated as a result of his injuries.
When Doctor Copeland tries to go to see a judge, he is beaten and
jailed by a white sheriffÂ’s deputy. At the Kelly house, Mick has
had to start sleeping in the living room since her sister Etta has
gotten sick. She cannot stop thinking of what has happened to
Willie. One day she and Harry Minowitz bicycle out of town to go
swimming in a creek and they have sex. Harry feels so guilty that
he runs away. In Jake BlountÂ’s life, he has been plagued with
headaches and bad dreams. He is always having to stop fights at
the carnival. His fellow workers laugh at him for his ideas and his
short stature. He visits Singer and learns of what happens to Willie.
He insists on meeting Willie. Singer takes him to Doctor
CopelandÂ’s house and Willie tells him the story of the cause of the
guardsÂ’ torturing him and two of his fellow worker-inmates. Jake
is rebuffed when he tells Willie he wants to help him. He goes into
Doctor CopelandÂ’s room and gets into a heated argument with the
doctor. Sometimes they agree, but then fall into a dispute
immediately afterward. Finally Doctor Copeland collapses and
Jake leaves. In MickÂ’s life, she finds that she can no longer stay in
her thoughts about music. She is so often distracted. When the
opportunity comes up, she decides to take a job to help with the
familyÂ’s expenses. She feels trapped and hopeless. Singer goes to
see Antonapoulos and finds that he has died. He returns home and
kills himself.
Part III resolves the lives of the remaining characters. Doctor
Copeland is taken to his father-in-lawÂ’s farm to recover from
tuberculosis, Jake escapes a riot and leaves town, Mick continues
working at WoolworthÂ’s and tries to keep her dream alive of being
a musician, and Biff continues watching people come into his cafe,
feeling love for all of them.
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