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Part 2, Chapter 2
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Loneliness and Isolation
Communication and Self-Expression
Racism, Inequality, and Injustice
The Individual vs. Society
The American South
Summary
Analysis
The more often Doctor Copeland visits with Singer, the more he comes to realize that Singer is very unlike all other white man he’s met. Singer is gentle and attentive and has some ineffable “oppressed” nature within him—Copeland wonders if Singer is Jewish. One afternoon, Singer even accompanies Doctor Copeland on his rounds through town, observing him as he visits with and treats patients at the height of the chilly, brutal influenza season. As the weeks go by, Doctor Copeland stays busy treating flu patients and often comes home very late at night, too exhausted to cook dinner for himself. His own health begins suffering, and he often feels chilled and feverish.
Though Doctor Copeland has felt mistreated by—and furious with—white people all his life, he finds solace in his new friendship with Singer. Copeland wonders if the “oppressed” nature Singer possesses is due to his religion, but it never occurs to him to think of the fact that Singer’s empathy and isolation might stem from the misunderstandings or cruelties he's faced due to his disability and his resultant difficulties communicating “traditionally” with others.
Themes
One night, Doctor Copeland is surprised when Portia knocks on his door at a late hour. Copeland lets Portia in—he can immediately tell that something is wrong. Copeland asks his daughter what’s happened. Portia begins explaining, through tears, that Willie and Highboy recently went together to a “wicked” nightclub called Madame Reba’s Palace of Sweet Pleasure. There, Willie got in a fight with another man and slashed him with a razor. Willie is now sitting in jail. At the news, Copeland has a coughing fit. When he pulls his handkerchief away from his face, it is spotted with blood.
This passage sets up two major changes in Copeland’s life: the incarceration of the only son with whom he’s still in contact, and the worsening of his own physical health. These factors both serve to isolate Copeland within his own misery even further.
Themes
As the sky lightens into day, Portia tells her father her plan: she wants to get several white townspeople to write letters to the judge in support of Willie, stating what an “upstanding” boy he is. Doctor Copeland turns his nose up at Portia’s plan—he doesn’t like the idea of relying on white people to save Willie from jail. Later that morning, Copeland goes down to the jail with Portia to try to find out more about what is happening to Willie, but no one at the jail will answer their questions. Three weeks later, Willie is convicted of assault and sentenced to nine months of hard labor. Doctor Copeland and Portia are devastated as Willie is sent away to prison in another part of the state.
Doctor Copeland wants to help Willie—but he does not want to have to beg favors of white people in order to do so. Copeland doesn’t allow Portia to enact her plan, and Willie is sentenced to time in prison—though it is impossible to say whether Portia’s idea would have had any effect on the racist legal institution in town.
Themes
In the midst of his grief and worry, Doctor Copeland struggles to keep up with the unending stream of sick patients who come to his house. Copeland has himself been diagnosed with tuberculosis of the lungs. Though he tries to keep healthy and strong, he finds his work wearies him. Even more than his physical health, he finds his state of mind collapsing. Doctor Copeland visits John Singer often, talking with him about everything under the sun, from the “enigma of the universe” to the matter of race in America.
Copeland struggles against the forces which threaten to isolate him even further from his family and community, turning to Singer for comfort and support. Any time a character uses Singer in this way, they’re usually just trying to excuse their actions or make themselves feel better about their situation, which may be what Copeland is doing here; notice that their conversations never include Singer’s own problems or worries.
Themes
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Two weeks after Willie’s sentencing, Portia comes by Doctor Copeland’s house to invite him to a family reunion the next day, which will be attended mostly by family from her late mother’s side. Copeland tells Portia to borrow anything she needs to cook supper for the family, but he doesn’t show interest in attending. Portia, however, goes on to say that Hamilton and “Buddy” will be at the reunion. Doctor Copeland corrects her, reminding her that her brother’s name is Karl Marx. He laments that he hasn’t seen Karl in five years. Portia asks her father to attend the reunion, and he assures her he will.
Portia invites her father to come back into the fold of the family—or to at least try. Copeland, however, doesn’t seem willing to see his children as they want to be seen; for instance, he doesn’t accept his son’s choice to go by a different name. He is still determined to exert influence over them and define them on his own terms—a fact that will create tension as he reconnects with them.
Themes
After Portia leaves, Doctor Copeland sits alone, reflecting on the struggles he’s been through to get to where he is now. He laments the suffering of his people, which inspired a “madness” in him—a madness which led him to be violent to his wife. As a result, Daisy took the children to live at her father’s. Eight years later, when she died, his sons still refused to speak to him—and now, several more years later, he is still “an old man in an empty house.”
As Doctor Copeland reflects on the cruelties and mistakes that define his past, he feels genuine regret—but he also attributes his violence and anger to the physical, emotional, and psychological violence that has defined his life under white oppression. Doctor Copeland’s life trajectory is a stark example of just how devastating the effects of racism can be on individuals and families.
Themes
The next evening, Doctor Copeland goes over to Portia and Highboy’s house. The room is crowded, and at first no one notices Doctor Copeland enter. When Portia spots him, however, the room goes quiet. Portia’s Grandpapa greets Copeland stiffly but pleasantly. Copeland spots his sons, Hamilton and Karl Marx, and shakes their hands. The young men refuse to look their father in the eye.
Relations between Copeland and his sons remain strained—Copeland is something of a pariah in this setting, even though he is, to his community and his patients, a beloved and benevolent force.
Themes
When the conversation in the room turns to agitated worry over Willie, Grandpapa suggests Portia read from the Bible for a while to comfort everyone. Portia reads from the Book of Luke, and when she finishes, Grandpapa says he is looking forward to the return of Jesus to earth—he hopes Jesus will place his hand upon the heads of the whole family and turn them “white as cotton.” Doctor Copeland grows agitated and feels an feels an “old evil anger” rise up as he listens to Grandpapa continue talking about God, Jesus, and Heaven’s angels—all of whom he believes are white with yellow hair.
Doctor Copeland hates that Grandpapa—and seemingly many other members of the family—aspire to whiteness and believe that being white would solve all of their problems. Copeland wants his people—and his family—to take pride in their blackness and stand against whiteness rather than seeking to become complicit in it. However, Grandpapa’s beliefs hint at just how difficult the racist culture of the Deep South makes it for black people to value their own culture.
Themes
The next morning, Doctor Copeland visits John Singer. After their visit, as he is on the way downstairs, he passes a white man carrying a paper sack. As the two pass on the stairs, the white man collides with Doctor Copeland. Doctor Copeland looks into the man’s eyes and glimpses “madness” there for just a moment. The man apologizes and continues up the stairs toward Singer’s room.
Copeland and Blount meet on the stairs for the first time—and both seem rageful at the idea that someone else has been visiting Singer. This brief moment of conflict is somewhat ironic in that the two men actually have a lot in common, as would-be revolutionaries who have a hard time getting others to listen to them.
Themes
