The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter: Dr Copeland and Jake Blount [updated]

In the previous blog post, I was whining about the political and religious speeches in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. Now I’m going to disagree with myself (which you might have noticed I frequently do, if you follow this blog): the political speeches of Dr Copeland and Jake Blount (to John Singer and to the reader) build up to the argument, the confrontation between the 2 of them, which is an excellent scene.  
As I have written before, Dr Copeland, the black doctor, cannot stop talking about “the purpose” or “the mission”, and Jake Blount, the drunkard, cannot stop talking about “knowing” and “the truth”. Both of them are Marxists—Dr Copeland speaks of Karl Marx and apparently compares him to Jesus in his Christmas speech, and names one of his children after him; Jake Blount calls himself a Red, a radical, and always rants about capitalism. Both of them, in their anger and bitterness, feel lost because they cannot talk to anyone else about their ideas, so they come to John Singer. 
I reckon there must be many readers like me, who wonder what would happen if they had a conversation. Carson McCullers lets them cross paths many times, but they never have a real talk till near the end of the novel, and she handles it masterfully. It is astonishing that at the age of 22-23 and in the year 1940, she could have written so well the character of Dr Copeland and inhabited his mind—his rage, his disappointment, his sense of injustice and oppression, his hatred of “the oppressors” and deep distrust of “the white race”, his humiliation, his desperation and helplessness. Carson McCullers seems to depict him with ease. 
It is even more remarkable that she could have written a character like Jake Blount—a bitter, self-pitying drunkard obsessed with Marx’s ideas, and deeply racist. Throughout the novel, his actions already show that he’s a rude, unpleasant, obnoxious man, but the scene at the Copelands exposes him for what he is—he fills his head with theories and cannot see any individual, doesn’t care about anybody, and just wants to use people (specifically William, Dr Copeland’s son) as his pawns. He’s also deeply racist, without quite realising it—at least twice in the chapters where we’re in his mind, there’s mention of a “Negro smell” (the scene at the Copelands’ house, and the fight scene). He seems to follow eugenics. 
The depiction of the 2 characters, and their confrontation, shows Carson McCullers’s deep understanding of racial relations and ability to get into the minds of such different characters. But to me, it’s more fascinating that she’s capable of seeing through, and portraying, the type like Jake Blount, who talks about equality and such wonderful ideals but has no feelings for the individual and is willing to sacrifice a few people for “a higher cause”. Blount becomes worse in the novel—he doesn’t particularly seem to care about John Singer, only himself, and then it turns out that he’s been eating at Biff Brannon’s restaurant without paying and doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with that.  
Dr Copeland isn’t much better. He’s more sympathetic and likable, but he is also obsessed with ideas (better conditions for black people) but takes out his rage on his wife, alienates his own children, fails as both a husband and a father, and has little patience or kindness with his daughter Portia. Portia is the one who holds everything together. 
In The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, except for John Singer, who is blank on purpose for people to interpret in any way they like, Biff Brannon is the weakest character of the 5, mostly because he doesn’t have the same complexity and depth. Mick Kelly is another good character, clever, and likeable—the one who gets a glimpse of something beyond her daily life. The 3 finest scenes in the novel, I think, are the scene of Mick discovering Beethoven, the scene of the traumatising incident (which I won’t spoil), and the scene of the argument between Dr Copeland and Jake Blount. 
This is an excellent novel. I’m going to read more of Carson McCullers’s works.



Addendum: I’ve just read a few articles about Marxism in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, and would like to expand on my points. There are spoilers.
I think it’s a mistake to read the political passages straight—see the characters’ politics as Carson McCullers’s politics. She’s depicting poverty, racial disparity, and despair in a Southern town in the 30s, and there is no doubt that her sympathies lie with the people she created. She portrays them as they are, depicts them with compassion, and helps the reader understand why they are who they are and why they do what they do—we understand, for example, why Dr Copeland has a deep distrust of “the white race” and convinces himself that John Singer must be Jewish, or why Jake Blount turns into a Marxist.  
However, Carson McCullers isn’t propagating any political message—The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter is a more subtle and complex book. Jake Blount, as I wrote above, is a complex man. Throughout the book, he has many rants about the system, about capitalism, about inequality, and the story seems to support his ideas, but there are 2 important scenes near the end of book that must force us to re-examine his ideas and see his approach in a different light—the confrontation with Dr Copeland, and the scene where he and Biff Brannon talk about the fight. I think a reader misreads the book if they read through the book and read those 2 scenes, but afterwards still read the political passages straight and don’t question the Marxist’s thinking. It is clear that Jake Blount has some fancy ideals, but he’s ready to sacrifice people for a cause and incapable of seeing them as individuals. It is not only racism—he is indifferent to human lives, and seems to have no regret when a tragedy happens because of the messages he has been spreading. 
Note too that he is full of self-pity, rude to everyone, and always speaks against the system but doesn’t have John Singer’s dignity and self-respect. Blount has been eating at Biff’s café without paying and has been rude to him, then says that if he had money, he still wouldn’t pay, but is shameless enough to take Biff’s money before he leaves town. He thinks that he gave Singer everything, but only thinks about himself when Singer’s dead, and leaves all of Singer’s affairs to others (Biff) to take care of. Blount, to me, is a despicable man. 
To clarify, I’m not saying that Carson McCullers, in her portrayal of Blount, is mocking Marxists or taking an anti-socialist stance—she isn’t propagating any political message, she’s depicting the characters. It is more subtle and nuanced.