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Doctor Benedict Mady Copeland
Biff Brannon is the kind, thoughtful, deeply existential owner of the New York Café—an all-day, all-night restaurant and bar on the main street of the unnamed mill town in which the novel takes place. Biff Brannon has a self-proclaimed fondness for “freaks” and misfits, and, early on in the book, shelters Jake Blount at the café and lets him drink on credit. Biff believes the best in people even as he himself struggles with dark, obsessive feelings and a punishing sense of guilt—emotions that intensify after the sudden, unexpected death of his wife, Alice. Biff and Alice have never had children, and though Biff longs to be a father, his desire to care for children sometimes veers into the desire simply to possess children. As John Singer, Jake Blount, and Mick Kelly all begin spending more time at the café, Blount finds himself drawn to Singer, and often visits the man in his room at the Kellys’ boarding house. Biff is one of Singer’s only visitors who ever asks Singer any questions about himself, his past, or his thoughts. Even as Biff bonds with Singer, he finds himself longing to get closer to Mick and to his niece Baby—but he detects something “wrong” in these feelings, and worries that his preoccupation with the young girls is inappropriate. Biff frequently wonders about the purpose of life, the limits of human connection, and the struggle between good and evil. He is a very contemplative person, and yet is never quite able to find the answers to the existential questions he poses himself. Toward the end of the novel, Biff has a short, fleeting moment of transcendence, and believes he has come to understand the purpose of “human struggle” and the nature of time itself—but the moment is gone just as quickly as it came, and Biff is left alone and wondering again.
Bartholomew “Biff” Brannon Quotes in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
The The Heart is a Lonely Hunter quotes below are all either spoken by Bartholomew “Biff” Brannon or refer to Bartholomew “Biff” Brannon. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part 1, Chapter 2
Quotes
In some men it is in them to give up everything personal at some time, before it ferments and poisons—throw it to some human being or some human idea. They have to.
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Part 1, Chapter 6
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Singer was always the same to everyone. He sat in a straight chair by the window with his hands stuffed tight into his pockets, and nodded or smiled to show his guests that he understood.
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Part 2, Chapter 2
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“I go around,” Blount said. He leaned earnestly across the table and kept his eyes on the mute’s face. “I go all around and try to tell them. And they laugh. I can’t make them understand anything. No matter what I say I can’t seem to make them see the truth.”
Singer nodded… […] His dinner had got cold because he couldn’t look down to eat, but he was so polite that he let Blount go on talking.
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Part 3, Chapter 4
Quotes
And why? What was the reason for keeping the place open all through the night when every other cafe in the town was closed? He was often asked that question and could never speak the answer out in words.
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Bartholomew “Biff” Brannon Quotes in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
The The Heart is a Lonely Hunter quotes below are all either spoken by Bartholomew “Biff” Brannon or refer to Bartholomew “Biff” Brannon. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part 1, Chapter 2
Quotes
In some men it is in them to give up everything personal at some time, before it ferments and poisons—throw it to some human being or some human idea. They have to.
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Part 1, Chapter 6
Quotes
Singer was always the same to everyone. He sat in a straight chair by the window with his hands stuffed tight into his pockets, and nodded or smiled to show his guests that he understood.
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Part 2, Chapter 2
Quotes
“I go around,” Blount said. He leaned earnestly across the table and kept his eyes on the mute’s face. “I go all around and try to tell them. And they laugh. I can’t make them understand anything. No matter what I say I can’t seem to make them see the truth.”
Singer nodded… […] His dinner had got cold because he couldn’t look down to eat, but he was so polite that he let Blount go on talking.
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Part 3, Chapter 4
Quotes
And why? What was the reason for keeping the place open all through the night when every other cafe in the town was closed? He was often asked that question and could never speak the answer out in words.
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