SOURCE: Millichap, Joseph R. “The Realistic Structure of The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.” Twentieth Century Literature 17, no. 1 (January 1971): 11-17.

In the following essay, Millichap provides a structural analysis of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter in order to illustrate the psychological and social realism of the novel.

Carson McCullers produced before her death in 1967 a small but impressive body of fiction: The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, 1940; Reflections in a Golden Eye, 1941; The Member of the Wedding, 1946; The Ballad of the Sad Cafe, 1951; Clock Without Hands, 1961; and twelve short stories published between 1936 and 1967. Her career was marked by successes, both popular and critical, and by controversy. The controversial aspects of her work become apparent in even a cursory examination of the criticism concerned with it. Conflicting opinions regarding the interpretation of individual works, the value of her overall achievement, and her place in American literary history abound...