Disabled Body in Carson McCullers’s The Heart is a LonelyHunter: A Lacanian Analysis

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, written by Carson McCullers, has a protagonist who is both deaf andmute. The protagonist, John Singer, yearns for connection with other human beings despite the inherentlimitations of language. This study employs a Lacanian psychoanalytic framework to shed light on threeaspects of this disabled character: first, the way his body as a disabled body is a representation of therepressed fragmented body; second, the way his disability proves to be a wall that does not let him enter therealm of the symbolic; and third, the way, though committing suicide, he rebels against the rules of thesymbolic. Accordingly, it is shown that the protagonist, John Singer, who is both deaf and mute and isdisabled, represents the Lacanian concept of the repressed fragmented body. Afterwards, it is shown that hisinability to talk to other people serves as an obstacle for him to enter the realm of the symbolic properly andcompletely. Finally, it is shown how, by committing suicide, John Singer rebels against the ableist culturethat surrounds him. Despite the fact that Lacanian psychoanalysis offers valuable insights, the studyacknowledges that it has inherent limitations. For example, in future studies, the work could be analyzedfrom a feminist perspective, with the goal of examining the impact of gender roles on the interactions that thecharacters have with one another.

کلیدواژه ها:

Desire ، Disability ، Imaginary ، Lacanian psychoanalysis ، Real ، Symbolic