Carson McCullers’ 1953 novel A Clock Without Hands exemplifies the postmodernist tradition by establishing a continuum of four central characters separated by their motives for manipulating language. The spectrum ranges from white to black, both...

Many people, especially Southerners, willingly deceive themselves when referring to race relations or the way we remember the past by voicing their opinions in the form of “It was not that bad during segregation” or “The Civil War was fought over...

In The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, McCullers uses the juxtaposition of two characters with very different lifestyles to question the importance of teaching and its connection to communication. Thus, she leaves the reader with the notion that there...

Man’s search for spiritual fulfillment in their lifelong escape from emotional isolation has been a common theme in literature of all cultures. In The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers, a feminist American writer, this spiritual search...

The term “coming of age” is identified with many concepts of growing up: loss of innocence, solidification of an identity that adulthood is based upon, and conforming to society to one degree or another. These concepts are tied to various “rites...

In novels The Catcher in the Rye and The Member of the Wedding, Salinger and McCullers both invite the reader to experience how the adult world can have an impact on the lives of young people. In particular, the novels describe how their...

In the novel Member of the Wedding, by Carson McCullers, the story of young Frankie Addams is told as she begins to navigate the world, documenting from her perspective, her exposure to harsh reality of the world as she begins to develop into a...

The Member of the Wedding, by Carson McCullers discusses the life of a 12 year old girl, Frankie, who is transitioning from childhood to adulthood. Frankie feels disconnected from the rest of the world, having lost her mother when she was born,...

One character in the love triangle described in the novella “The Ballad of the Sad Café,” by Carson McCullers, is unworthy of love. Miss Amelia, a businesswoman with manly characteristics and little compassion, gains joy and happiness from Lymon...

Over the course of several centuries, grotesque imagery has played a vital role in the arts, literature, and cultures all over the world. Attempting to attribute a clear-cut definition to the word grotesque has proven to be a challenge for...

When it comes to defining the literature of the American South, geography, history, politics, race, gender, social order and religion are what come to one’s mind immediately (Hobson, Ladd 1). However, this description changed over time, and in the...

In Carson McCullers’ “The Ballad of the Sad Café”, his theory of love is a central theme, with different characters representing different roles. Lymon is a grotesque character, both in his physically deformed appearance and in his vulgar,...