Of all the people who feel Singer understands “whatever they wanted to say to them. And maybe even more than that”, Dr. Copeland seems to have the most unique situation (McCullers 94).
Mick, Jake, and the Doctor seem to be united through their lack of place and identity. Mick is split into two selves-poverty and a childhood forfeited in order to do a mother’s work, and the high culture of classical music which she literally has to go to a richer part of town to even hear. Jake also is “two people” a mean-spirited drunk and “an educated man” who “[likes] words” and has been “in some of the biggest libraries in the country” (68). And then there is Dr. Copeland who rejects both black and white society and finds himself in a very lonely place in between. He has no pride in his own race, feeling he has to conquer his emotions, “the black feeling” unless it should “conquer him” (82). And even as an educated black man he knows he still cannot be accepted because of “the quiet insolence of the white race” (84). Dr. Copeland is something more than two selves, or perhaps, something less- maybe he feels he has no identity at all.
What point do you think McCullers is trying to make about identity, especially multiple identities? This is something that was also brought up in “The Mortgaged Heart”, which could be interesting to connect your ideas to.
Also, why do you think Dr. Copeland can tolerate Portia and not her brothers? Why can Portia tolerate her father unlike her brothers? Does he only think his children are failures or it does it also make him feel like a failure himself?
You don’t have to answer everything.
Thinking about "The Mortgaged Heart" and its talk about two's and on our discussion of how the second stanza talked about an original and its copy, like the "homeless Doppelganger" and the "schizophrenic master" (McCullers 9-10) made me think that out of the multiple identities that each character seems to have, one is the "original" and the rest are "copies". I think that McCullers makes a point that one's "true" identity may not always be achievable (or assumed by the individual) because of the mental and physical relationships with society.
ReplyDeleteFor example, Mick is completely in love with music. She "wanted to sing... but there was no sound" (McCullers 34). Mick is unable to sing, and subsequently produce music, because she physically unable to due to her impoverish financial situation and her limited education. This is evident when Mick goes to write Mozart's name on the wall and spells it "Motsart" (38). In addition, there is a sense that Mick is alone in her hopes for a future with music. Her brother Bill does not tell her that she cannot build a violin until she becomes to annoying with her questions. He says, "I thought anybody would know a thing like that. But I figured it wouldn't hurt if you found out for yourself”(46) not because he wants his sister to learn something by herself, but because he was too lazy to correct her thinking. Mick is surrounded by members of society that cannot, or will not, help her make music. Mick has this dream where she is “swimming through great big crowds of people” (39) with no destination, just always traveling against the crowd, rather than with them. I think that this signifies Mick’s struggle to make music, when society around her does not support her.
John Singer, on the other hand, is physically unable to interact with society. He is deaf and chooses to be mute because “it was painful for him to talk with his mouth”(11). Physically, Singer cannot interact with mainstream society. They do not understand sign language and he is unable to read lips as fast as they speak. To this extent, Singer is effectively isolated from society as he cannot interact with, or maintain any (two-sided) relationships with people in society. Singer is thus able to assume his identity as himself. Although he is the central character, he does not seem to have any conflicts about his identity or his purpose. He seems to be unaffected with the pains that other individuals (like Mick) have experienced because his visitors seem to be like the movies that he watches when he does not get any visitors. He “never looked at the title…[and] he watched each scene with equal interest” (92). Singer is able to remain objective of these people’s problems because he nothing in society is worth more to him than something else. Because he can never be part of society, everything is of “equal interest” as if he was watching a movie.
I quickly want to point out for future discussion that at this point in his life Singer isn't choosing to be a mute. Since he has neglected to speak for over 30 years, the muscles that allow us to speak are non-existent or extremely weak in Singer's body. I don't think that he could speak to someone even if he tried. Not really a big deal, but I thought I'd point that out.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the multiple personalities I thought that it was interesting that Jake Blount was called Blount in the chapter where he is drunk and Jake in the chapter when he is sober. The other distinction between these two personalities is that he is Blount in the night and Jake during the day. (It is interesting to note that we meet all of the people who will visit Singer during the evening. Biff, Blount, Mick, Copeland.)
I interpreted the multiple identies as just a way for McCullers to show that all of these characters were mentally lost. Blount is probably the best example. Described as "short, with heavy shoulders like beams", one would expect his character to very stable and reserved, if we assume that McCullers's description forshadows his personality (as is the case with Ant). And yet, Blount is anything but stable. "He has a good mind, all right, but he went from one thing to another without any reason behind it at all. He was like a man thrown off his track by something" (17). I expect that we will learn what that something is in later chapters. But the idea is clear, Jake Blount is a walking contradiction. He is smart enough to get a well-paying job but stupid enough to run up a $20 bill in alcohol. Is Singer the person that is going to be able to fix him and set him straight?
When discussing Mick's love for music, I thought that this was a great passage:
"Mick tried to think of some good private place where she could go and be by herself and study about this music. But though she thought about this a long time she knew in the beginning that there was no good place" (53).
Is the room of John Singer the place she is looking for? A room where she can talk endlessly and pour out all of her thoughts?
In response to Mike's question as well as Amanda's idea of the duality within a person, I think it is very interesting to think of Singer as "a room where she can talk endlessly and pour out all of her thoughts" (Mike). Like in our studies throughout the year, there is an continuous struggle with the individual and society, where each has restraints placed on the other. All of these characters, Biff, Blount, Mick, and Copeland, experience their conflicting personalities as "homeless Dopelganger" (McCullers 9). They find themselves most lost while acting as their unnatural copies of their true self.
ReplyDeleteSince Chelsea already touched upon Mick, I would like to use Jake Blount as an example. Blount's character is divided, like Mike said, between sober Jake, and drunken Blount. The addiction to being drunk throws many into a hopeless spiral, so Blount's character is very compelling. While Blount "never seemed really drunk like that before...he had an ugly look" (25). Since a Dopelganger is evil, it makes sense that he would be portrayed as ugly and stupid. During this state, Singer comes as not only an outlet for his troubles claiming that he is "the only one in this town whoc atches what [he] mean[s]" and that he knows he "understand[s] the things [he] want[s] to mean" (23). Even though Blount cannot articulate what he wants someone to understand, he feels as though Singer is that person. Singer not only accepts Blount's sorrows, but he also reaches out to the troubled soul, offering that if Biff "cannot think of any place for [Blount] to go, he can go home with [him]" (28).
Through Blount, McCullers shows how Singer is truly essential and a rare element ot society. Since society itself brings these evil doubles upon the characters, (for Mick, the poverty, the Dr. his race), Singer's "cold and gentle" eyes "and all his body seemed to listen" (23). Singer is a tangible method of reconnecting with one's original identity. They can imagine that Singer interprets what they sound how they want it, and his true charisma is shown, suggesting to the troubled ones that there is someone who cares. In order to regain identity, the characters must subconciously look within themselves, and they use Singer as this method.
Reading Meagan's post just made me think how funny it would be if we could narrate Singer's thoughts. For example:
ReplyDelete(Mick knocks on the door):
Singer to himself: Oh jeez, not this boy again. Or is it a girl? She has a girl's face, but is wearing boy's clothes. I really need to figure this out. I wish I could ask....
(She starts talking):
Singer: What is she rambling about, now? Remember to smile. And nod your head. She likes that. It makes her feel like I'm actually paying attention.
(She asks a question):
Singer: Does she actually expect me to answer? or is it a he? Damn it... I was having a really nice game of chess, too. I was just about to beat myself with a nice queen sacrifice. Oh shoot! I haven't smiled in a long time. There we go. Problem solved.
(She doesn't leave).
Singer: When did I sign up for this again?...
I know. I have a weird sense of humor. Now I know how Parrish feels.
I think that Dr. Copeland can tolerate Portia and not his sons because of the fact that Portia did not disappoint him as much as his sons did. It is evident that the relationship between Portia and her father is also unstable, however, when William gets invited in by Dr. Copeland, the entire mood of the environment in his house changes. Portia responds to her father's request to invite Highboy and William by stating, "Last time Willie come in here you hurted his feelings. You see you don't understand just how--"(87). Though it is not discussed explicitly in the novel, it seems that Dr. Copeland acts differently towards William, and his other sons, because he feels as if though they did not live up to his expectations. This idea is further strengthened when Copeland says to William, "I wonder how much of all the things I have said to you when you were a child have stayed in your mind..I mean that to you and Hamilton and Karl Marx I gave all that was in me. And i put all of my trust and hope in you. And all I get is blank misunderstanding and idleness and indifference. Of all I have put in nothing has remained. All has been taken away from me"(89). There is a definite hostility in the way in which Copeland speaks to his son. It seems to me that he did not expect of Portia what he expected of his sons, and that is the reason why she is the only one who he can stand being around, for she has disappointed him the least out of all his children.
ReplyDeleteResponding to the idea of Dr. Copeland feeling as though he had no identity at all, I think Amanda raises a pinnacle aspect to this entire novel. The characters and their multiple personalities that we see as readers are desperately trying to find what their identities truly are. All three characters; Jack, Mick, and Dr. Copeland, are so entangled with their multiple personalities that it seems they are confused about their own selves. An example of this is when Portia, her father, Willie, and Highboy are sitting together: “Doctor Copeland was silent. He kept his eyes on his son’s face, but when Willie noticed this he it his rough, blunt fingers and stared at his feet. Doctor Copeland felt his pulse hammering at his wrists and temples. He coughed and held his fist to his chest. He wanted to speak to his son, but he could think of nothing to say” (88). This scene was almost painful for me to read, I just picture Dr. Copeland and his shame at not being able to speak candidly to his own flesh and blood. He is so mixed up in the notion of being inferior to whites that it seems his whole character is convoluted. It is as if Doctor Copeland feels guilty that he has, by having children, made them bear the same feeling of inferiority to the white race as he has had to bear. When Doctor Copeland finally gets the courage to speak to Willie, “his voice was high and it did not sound as though it came from himself. ‘William, I wonder how much of all the things I have said to you when you were a child have stayed in your mind’” (88-89). What does this mean? It may be that Doctor Copeland hopes that he has instilled some sense of pride in Willie for being black, for Doctor Copeland has had to truly suffer behind his skin (in some respects he seems to bring this suffering onto himself)…it may be that Doctor Copeland hopes that his son did not listen to the idea of being inferior to whites, that Willie did not see his father’s feeling of shame. Or it may simply be Doctor Copeland is lonely like the rest of them, he wants to know that his son may in fact still care.
ReplyDeleteIn regars to the multiple identity idea being disscused here I would like to expand on and more elquently state what I was try to say in class today in hopes of expressing it more clearly. The passage was the racial slur filled one starting on page 32, "Because in some men it is in them to give up everything personal at some time, before it ferments and poisons- throw it to some human being or some human idea. They have to. In some men it is in them- The text is "All men seek Thee.' Maybe that was why-maybe-He was a Chinaman, the fellow said. And a nigger and a wop and a Jew. And if he beleived it hard enough maybe it was so. Every person and every thing he said he was". Instatnly this made me think of Doctor Copeland, who although being black defines him to most people means nothing to him as he doesn't feel black and doesn't allow that to control him. He doesn't assign himself to any specif ethinic background and beleives himself to be something that is completely isolated to only himself. Looking at this ona larger scale, and taking into account all of the three main charcters we have learned about going to Singer, we see charecters that are very much by themselves and while they are influenced by others and don't think of themselves as perfect humans they do create these multiple sides of themselves. For example, going back to Copeland he choses to reject both black and white culture and seems to be looking for his own definition of he beleives himself to be.
ReplyDeleteI think it's interesting that these characters all seem to have a double identity, especially in relation to "The Mortgaged Heart". It is as though each character struggles with two sides, one of them dead and one living: "Watch twice the orchard blossoms in gray rain / And to the cold rose skies bring twin suprise. / Edure each summons once, and once again; / Experience multiplied by two" (McCullers 4-7). "The Mortgaged Heart" shows that life acts in twos, in the duality of living and dead; The Heart is a Lonely Hunter expresses the characters' lives in terms of the two sides of their personalities. I like what Megan said about the Doppelganger, and how it represents an evil side to someone or something. Jake is predominately regarded as a drunk, for example when he is in the bar, and his "tongue was so heavy with drink and he talked at such a violent pace that the sounds were all shaken up together" (25). The drunken side of Jake is what causes him to be disrespected in society, kicked out of Biff's household, and regarded as foolish. Singer himself has two sides, an inhuman aspect that he presents to those who come to speak to him. In the bar, Biff notes "His eyes made a person think that he heard things nobody else had ever heard, that he knew things no one had ever guessed before. He did not seem quite human" (25). While this does not show the evil aspect of the Doppelganger that Megan suggested, it still shows an alternative, unconventional side to Singer that represents a duality: the living aspect exists, but there is an inhuman aspect that coincides.
ReplyDeleteThis may be a stretch, but McCullers idea relates to Joseph Campbell and his comment that the world exists within a duality, and can only be explained by dualities. McCullers' characters show two identities that contrast each other. Jake is a drunk and an educated man, Mick is a female who wishes she was a male, who lives in jealousy of higher society, and Copeland rejects both white and black society and cannot find a solid middle ground. Perhaps the duality in their personalities is essential to the lives of the characters.