Previous
Jake Blount
John Singer’s longtime friend and companion Spiros Antonapoulos is an obese Greek man who, like Singer, is both deaf and mute. At the start of the novel, Antonapoulos and Singer have been living together in the same room—but sleeping in different beds—for upwards of 10 years, though the circumstances of their meeting are never revealed. While Singer is devoted to Antonapoulos, Antonapoulos is closed-off, reserved, and rarely emotes with facial expressions or uses sign language to communicate with Singer. Shortly after the story begins, Antonapoulos’s mental health declines rapidly, and soon his cousin and employer, Charlie Parker, hurries him away to an asylum. Singer begins organizing his life around his periodic visits to the asylum, taking 12-hour train rides and loading his bags with gifts and snacks for his friend. During these visits, Antonapoulos is either sullen, ill, or some combination of the two. He shows Singer little gratitude for his presence or gifts, and talks to his former companion very little. Scholars and critics have long speculated on the true nature of Singer and Antonapoulos’s relationship, and some have even posited that the men’s deafness and muteness are allegorical representations of the stifling, alienating, and isolating experience of being homosexual in the Deep South in the late 1930s. Whether or not the relationship between the two men is actually sexual or romantic, what is clear is that it is uneven and imbalanced. While Singer tries desperately to connect physically, emotionally, and linguistically with the only other person who could possibly understand him, Antonapoulos hides behind anger, antagonism, and misanthropy, eventually dying alone in the asylum due to complications from nephritis. When Singer learns of Antonapoulos’s death, he takes his own life—illustrating his final, crushing despondency at having watched his friend slowly fade away and perish. Cold and occasionally cruel, both self-loathing and self-indulgent, Antonapoulos’s hesitance to communicate or express his feelings makes him an enigma throughout the novel with motivations, feelings, wants, and needs that are never quite made clear.
Spiros Antonapoulos Quotes in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
The The Heart is a Lonely Hunter quotes below are all either spoken by Spiros Antonapoulos or refer to Spiros Antonapoulos. 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 1
Quotes
The next week was full of feverish activity. He talked and talked. And although his hands never paused to rest he could not tell all that he had to say. He wanted to talk to Antonapoulos of all the thoughts that had ever been in his mind and heart, but there was not time. His gray eyes glittered and his quick, intelligent face expressed great strain. Antonapoulos watched him drowsily, and his friend did not know just what he really understood.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 2, Chapter 15
Quotes
There were three mutes inside and they were talking with their hands together. […] There was a certain brotherly resemblance between them.
Singer went inside. For a moment he had trouble taking his hand from his pocket. Then clumsily he formed a word of greeting. He was clapped on the shoulder. A cold drink was ordered. They surrounded him and the fingers of their hands shot out like pistons as they questioned him.
He told his own name and the name of the town where he lived. After that he could think of nothing else to tell about himself. He asked if they knew Spiros Antonapoulos. They did not know him. Singer stood with his hands dangling loose. […] He was so listless and cold that the three mutes in the bowler hats looked at him queerly. After a while they left him out of their conversation.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Heart is a Lonely Hunter LitChart as a printable PDF.
Spiros Antonapoulos Quotes in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
The The Heart is a Lonely Hunter quotes below are all either spoken by Spiros Antonapoulos or refer to Spiros Antonapoulos. 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 1
Quotes
The next week was full of feverish activity. He talked and talked. And although his hands never paused to rest he could not tell all that he had to say. He wanted to talk to Antonapoulos of all the thoughts that had ever been in his mind and heart, but there was not time. His gray eyes glittered and his quick, intelligent face expressed great strain. Antonapoulos watched him drowsily, and his friend did not know just what he really understood.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 2, Chapter 15
Quotes
There were three mutes inside and they were talking with their hands together. […] There was a certain brotherly resemblance between them.
Singer went inside. For a moment he had trouble taking his hand from his pocket. Then clumsily he formed a word of greeting. He was clapped on the shoulder. A cold drink was ordered. They surrounded him and the fingers of their hands shot out like pistons as they questioned him.
He told his own name and the name of the town where he lived. After that he could think of nothing else to tell about himself. He asked if they knew Spiros Antonapoulos. They did not know him. Singer stood with his hands dangling loose. […] He was so listless and cold that the three mutes in the bowler hats looked at him queerly. After a while they left him out of their conversation.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
