Privacy and Understanding

In Madden's, essay, he seems to break down the stereotypes that are places on The Heart is a Lonely Hunter and speak to the way in which McCullers' characters "hungers for human understanding while simultaneously desiring an inviolable society." He claims that The Heart is a Lonely Hunter "could hardly be more universal" and that "It is not a realistic novel about the modern South, nor is it, despote cetrain critics or whatever McCullers' original intention may have been, a political polemic against capitalism and racism." I'm not sure if I agree with this last point, because I think there are many instances through Part 1 and Part 2 that help to prove that her novel IS a political polemic against capitalism and racism. So, I my question is a) if the Heart is a Lonely Hunter is in fact an attack on capitalism and racism (intentionally or not) and b) why Madden is so assertive when he makes this point in the introduction of his essay, and does not directly reconcile his assertion by the end of the essay. Why was it included? What does it have to do with the paradox of privacy and understanding?