Although Carson McCullers referred to her novel, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, as "an ironic parable of Fascism," critics have not taken her statement seriously, either because it seems too general a reference to the social and economic conditions of the novel or because it appears too restrictive in terms of the theme of isolation. Considerable evidence, however, suggests the probability that politics was a motivating factor in the genesis of the novel and that the parable is a key not only to broader implications in the theme but also to the tight construction McCullers claimed and reviewers have so often questioned. (p. 108)

Perhaps the most logical way to approach this novel is as a parable, for its context clarifies such mysteries as the function and meaning of Antonapoulos, its structure is clear, and its theme is specific. The parable has a conventional protagonist pitted against specific...