The Heart is a Lonely Hunter: Part 2, Chapter 11 Summary & Analysis

A month after hearing the news about Willie, Mick still finds herself plagued by nightmares about him—she has been rattled to her core by Portia’s story. For the last several nights, Mick has been sleeping on the sofa to avoid sharing a room with a sick Etta, so her sleep has been even worse. As dawn begins to break, Mick gets up from the sofa and runs into George’s room (as Bubber is now called), where she crawls into bed with him to get some more sleep.

When Mick wakes up next, she realizes she’s slept very late. She washes and dresses, then goes into her sisters’ room. Hazel and Etta are poring over a movie magazine. Mick asks Etta how she’s feeling. The irritable Etta—sick with pain from trouble with one of her ovaries—snaps at Mick. Mick pulls her hatbox full of compositions out from under the bed and warns her sisters that if either of them messes with her private things, she’ll kill them.

Summer is in the air, and Mick can’t get a new piece of music out of her head. Mick takes her hatbox out to the porch, pulls out her notebook, and begins writing. Harry comes over and sits on the porch, and Mick finds herself distracted by his presence. The two of them walk home from school together almost every day now, discussing religion and politics and their places in the world. Harry complains about the heat, and Mick agrees that summer has come early. She suggests they go swimming in a creek in the woods, and Harry eagerly adds that they should have a picnic the following day, when he doesn’t have to work. Mick agrees, and Harry promises to return with bikes tomorrow morning. As Harry walks away, Mick thinks about how good-looking he’s grown up to be. 

The next day, Harry brings a set of bicycles over early in the morning, and he and Mick set out for the woods. The ride is several miles long, and at a filling station along the way, the two of them stop for a drink. Mick gets herself a beer, and Harry follows suit.

At the creek, Harry jumps right into the cool water. Mick is self-conscious in her too-tight bathing-suit, which is borrowed from Hazel, and she worries that Harry will soon realize that she doesn’t actually know how to swim very well. Mick tries to make herself feel more confident by telling Harry a tall tale about her prowess as a diver, but it only makes her feel ridiculous. Mick summons her courage and jumps in. She finds that she’s a better swimmer than she believed herself to be, and she and Harry play in the water for over an hour. At one point, while drying in the sun, Mick suggests they swim naked. She and Harry sheepishly remove their suits and stare at each other’s bodies for a long time before Harry, embarrassed, pulls his back on.

After lunch, Harry tells Mick that he thinks she’s pretty. Mick, flustered, suggests they head for home, but Harry asks if they can stay a while longer. They lie down together in the grass and look up at the birds flying overhead, making small talk for a while until Harry turns to her and kisses her. Soon, the two are having sex. During the act, Mick feels as if “her head [is] broke off from her body and thrown away.”

During the ride back, Harry seems sad and confused, and tells Mick that they’ve got to “understand” what they’ve done. He fumbles for words as he tries to express himself to Mick. She suggests they sit down a while—as soon as they do, Harry starts crying. He confesses that he’d never even kissed a girl before. While Harry talks, Mick toys with an ant, then squashes it between her fingers and buries it in the ground. Harry worries aloud that they have committed a sin and should get married to absolve themselves. Mick says she’s never going to marry any boy.

Harry says he’s going to leave town—he wants to get a job as a mechanic somewhere else. He knows that if he stays at home, his mother will be able to “read this in [his] eyes.” Mick asks Harry to look at her and tell her if he can see a difference in her—he stares at her a long while, then nods. Harry tells Mick that in a month or two, he’ll write her from his new address—he instructs her to write back and let him know whether she’s “all right.” Mick is confused, but Harry just repeats that that’s all he needs to know. The two resume their 16-mile trek home—all the way back, Mick feels “very old.” As the two reach their homes, Harry shakes Mick’s hand awkwardly, then goes inside.

Mick walks inside to find her family sitting all together in the kitchen and dining room telling stories and riddles. As Mick walks into the room, hardly anybody notices her presence. After eating some leftovers, Mick gives Ralph a bath in the kitchen sink. Alone with the baby and Portia, Mick asks Portia if Portia notices anything different about her. Portia says she does—and advises Mick to put some grease on her sunburn. 

Mick goes out to the yard to be alone. While she’s out there, her father calls her back inside, telling her she has a telephone call. Inside, Mick goes to the phone to find Harry’s mother on the other end. Mrs. Minowitz asks if Mick knows where Harry is—he hasn’t come home from their picnic. Mick says she has no idea where Harry is at all.