The Heart is a Lonely Hunter: Part 1, Chapter 2 Summary & Analysis

At midnight on a dark, sultry early summer night, Bartholomew “Biff” Brannon works behind the cash register at the New York Café. The streets are quiet, but the café is full of customers. Biff nervously watches as a stout, dirty customer becomes increasingly drunk and loud. Biff goes upstairs to the room he and his wife Alice share above the café to retrieve a suitcase belonging to the drunk, whose name is Jake Blount. Alice wakes up and warns Biff that if he doesn’t tell Blount—who naps in the café during the day and drinks on Biff’s dime at night—to leave, she’ll call the police. Biff insists that since his arrival in town, Blount has been a good customer.

Alice calls Blount “a bum and a freak,” but Biff retorts that he likes freaks. Privately, he thinks about his frustration with the fact that after 15 years of marriage, he and Alice have been quarrelling more than usual. Biff tells Alice that she lacks compassion and curiosity—but she is nearly asleep again, and doesn’t seem to hear him. As Biff brings Blount’s suitcase downstairs, he admits to himself that he is perturbed by how much Blount’s drunkenness has worsened over the 12 days he’s been in town.

Back downstairs, Biff notes that Singer is drinking a cup of coffee alone while Blount, sitting alone in the corner, talks nonsense aloud to no one in particular—he is talking about “some queer kind of politics.” Biff knows that he must say something to Blount at some point tonight—things can’t keep going on as they are.

Biff looks up from the counter to see Mick Kelly enter the café. Biff is shocked to see her there—Mick is barely a teenager. Biff greets the tomboyish Mick and asks if her parents know she’s out so late. Mick assures Biff that a group of kids are out late playing. Mick asks to buy a pack of cigarettes, but as she gets out money to pay, she drops her change. Some of it rolls near Jake Blount’s table. Blount picks up the coins and laments the high price of cigarettes, blaming the price on the “tyranny” of capitalism. Biff notices Mick staring at Singer. Jake Blount notices, too, and says drunkenly that he’s been dreaming of Singer for several nights. Mick remarks that Singer has been living in her family’s boarding house for the last three months, then leaves.

Biff turns his attention to the drunk and stinking Blount. He urges Blount to go back to the kitchen and ask the boy working back there, Willie, to help him wash up and pick some clean clothes out of his suitcase. Blount rebuffs Biff’s suggestion and keeps drinking. Biff tries to ask Blount about his past, but Blount stumbles out of the bar rather than answer Biff’s questions. 

Biff surveys the café. It is after one in the morning, and only four or five patrons remain. He feels guilty for selling Mick cigarettes—he has a feeling of fatherly “tenderness” toward her which nonetheless makes him feel unsettled and uneasy.

At two in the morning, Jake Blount returns in the company of a black doctor whom Biff knows is related to Willie. Blount tries to order the doctor a drink, but the doctor quickly walks out of the bar. A drunken patron calls out to Blount, chiding him for bringing a black man into the bar. Blount drunkenly challenges the man, declaring himself to be every race and ethnicity under the sun. Biff tries to quiet Blount down, but Blount is worked up. Blount approaches Singer’s table and tells Singer that he’s the only one who understands all the things he “want[s] to mean.” Biff wonders if Singer can understand what Blount is saying. 

Nearly an hour goes by as Biff observes Blount pontificating to Singer about the ills of the world. At last, Singer nods at the clock, indicating that it’s time for him to leave, and walks out of the café. Blount seems saddened by the man’s departure and follows Singer outside. Biff falls asleep at the counter—when he wakes up, Willie is shaking him and explaining that Blount is outside, slamming his head and fists against a brick wall.

A group of policemen enter the café supporting the bloody and drunk Jake Blount—Singer is with them. They ask Biff if Blount is staying with him, or if he’d prefer they take him down to the station. Biff tells the policemen to leave Blount with him. After the policemen depart, Blount begins crying. Singer takes a pad out of his pocket and writes a note to Biff, offering to shelter Blount at the boarding house for the night. Biff brings Blount some food and some coffee, and Blount reluctantly eats through his tears. 

When Blount is done eating, Biff walks him and Singer to the door and bids them goodnight. He heads back in and sits at the cash register, thinking over the events of the night. Soon, morning customers begin streaming in for their coffee and breakfast. As Biff watches his customers, he notices that they all seem to be alone and estranged from one another. Biff heads upstairs to Alice, who is just waking up, and announces that Blount is gone from the property. He washes himself while Alice reads aloud from the Bible. When she gets up from bed to get dressed, he gets under the covers, wearily pondering Blount’s apparent desire to “give up” everything inside of him.