The Heart is a Lonely Hunter: Part 2, Chapter 4 Summary & Analysis

Upstairs, in Singer’s room, Jake Blount asks who the black man on the stairs was. Singer doesn’t answer him, and instead begins building a fire. Jake loses interest in securing an answer to his question and begins telling Singer about his childhood. He describes running away from home at an early age to work and talks about becoming swept up in a religious fervor. Blount shows Singer a scar on his palm and explains that he drove a nail through his hand to give himself stigmata.

Singer prepares some snacks for himself and Blount as Blount continues talking about the problems facing America—a place where people must rob their fellow men in order to live. As Jake goes on and on, he gets angrier and angrier. He repeats his familiar refrain, expressing frustration about going “all over [the] place” but never being able to get anyone to see the truth. Blount tells Singer that Singer is the only one who understands him.

Blount is no longer a stranger in town. He has worked at the Sunny Dixie all summer, fall, and winter, and has found a cheap room in a house to rent. He still drinks heavily, and, in his downtime, takes to roaming the town, talking about his beliefs to anyone who will listen—and even those who won’t. He visits Singer regularly and feels that the man is his only friend.

Blount wakes up on the floor of Singer’s room, realizing he’s fallen asleep. As soon as he awakes, he begins talking about communism. He doesn’t identify as a communist but wonders if he should become one. He asks Singer his opinion on the matter, and Singer writes on his little pad that he doesn’t know what Blount ought to do. Blount continues talking wildly about starting an anti-capitalist organization meant to stir up trouble and start riots—but the members of the organization could not divorce themselves from their capitalist impulses.

Singer looks at the clock and signals to Blount—it is time for lunch. Blount follows Singer down the stairs, loudly talking to the back of Singer’s head about the delicious things he’s planning on eating for lunch. Blount eats lunch with Singer and then follows him back to his room, where he stays all day and evening, drinking nonstop and railing against the capitalist establishment. Eventually, Blount passes out drunk.

In the morning, Blount wakes up late. Singer is gone, but has left some breakfast on the table. Jake eats and returns to his own neighborhood, but as he walks past an empty warehouse, he notices a religious message scrawled on the wall. Blount takes a red pencil from his own pocket and writes a note on the wall himself, asking whoever wrote the inscription to meet him in this spot the next day—or the day after—at noon. Both days, Blount waits at the wall for an hour, but no one comes.