1. Carson McCullers

3. Carson McCullers-A Brief Biography Carson McCullers is considered a leading author of the American Southern literary tradition. Her importance to American literature was established with the publication of her first novel The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter in 1940. Before reaching the age of thirty, she wrote two other major novels—Reflections in a Golden Eye in 1941 and The Member of the Wedding in 1946. Her stories are deeply rooted in her southern background and the central theme is spiritual isolation inherent in the human condition. Her characters are usually outcasts and misfits whose longings for love are never fulfilled. Carson McCullers was born and raised in the small town of Columbus, Georgia. Her mother believed she was destined to be famous. McCullers began taking piano lessons at the age of five and was convinced that she was to have a famous career in music. She left Columbus for New York City in 1934 at the age of seventeen. She originally intended to study at the Juilliard School of Music, but lost her tuition money on the New York subway. Abandoning her career as a concert pianist, McCullers enrolled in writing classes at Columbia University and New York University, and began writing stories. She could have produced more works but for her poor health. McCullers suffered from different diseases most of her adult life, including a series of strokes that began when she was in her 20s; she died of stroke at the age of 50.

4. Brief Introduction to the Story “A Tree. A Rock. A Cloud.” happens in a streetcar café where an old wanderer waylays a twelve-year-old paperboy to listen to his sad story. Twelve years ago, he loves a woman and marries her, but the woman suddenly leaves him with another man. Having experienced the common reactions to betrayal — the period of obsession to get the loved one back, followed by a period of recklessness and dissipation — the old man has developed a “science” of love, i.e. by which he can love everything he observes. Leo, the café owner, introduced as a bitter and stingy man, overhears the story, and interrupts the old man rudely from time to time to express his cynicism or anger. The boy is puzzled and comments in the end that the man has done a lot of travelling. This story was included in the collection of stories The Ballad of the Sad Café. It is chosen for the O’ Henry Prize Stories in 1942.

5. Question 1 What’s the setting of the story? What is the general atmosphere?

6. Answer 1 The story happens in an all-night café, early on a raining morning. It is cold and dark and damp outside. The street is raw and empty. Even in the café, people are not friendly. The general atmosphere is cold, and strange.

7. Question 2 What is said about the old man’s figure, nose, and the way he drinks beer, the way he turns his face? What is said about the boy’s face, ear, eyes? What’s the point of describing these details?

8. Answer 2 The old man is long and pale, with a big nose. When he drinks beer, he buries his nose and half of his face into the mug. The way he turns his face is slow. The boy has little and pink ears. His face is shallow and freckled. His eyes are round child eyes. These details are like close-ups, projecting the two characters directly and strikingly in front of the readers’ eyes. The man is obviously in a meditative state of mind. He does things very slowly, and his behavior is weird. The boy is portrayed as totally childish and unprepared. The color of pale, and pink suggests a Gothic feeling.

9. Question 3 How does the boy feel with the old man? How would you feel if a stranger says he/she loves you?

10. Answer 3 The boy feels very uneasy and embarrassed when the man says to him “I love you”. He shrinks back and his voice is shrill. He scowls and sidles away, and doesn’t know what to do. Obviously the boy is very confused and is forced into the conversation. I would probably feel the same or feel even threatened if a stranger approaches me and says he/she loves me. I might think that he is a lunatic, or moron, or something like that.

11. Question 4 What’s unusual about the way the man drinks his beer? What does this detail say about the man’s character?

12. Answer 4 “He bent down and, putting his face over the rim, he rested there for a moment. Then with both hands he tilted the mug and sipped.” He has the habit of burying his nose and face into the mug before drinking his beer. It seems that he is obsessed with his innermost thoughts and feelings, with his past.

13. Question 5 What descriptions about the old man in paragraph 27 impress you the most? What do these details reveal about the old man’s character?

14. Answer 5 The way he folds his loose and crooked hands, the way he looks at the boy sadly, and the way his “lids closed down with delicate gravity over his pale green eyes” from time to time are impressive. The most impressive detail is the old man’s eyelids, whose “delicate gravity” gives them a romantic and poetic expression.

15. Question 6 What’s your impression of Leo so far?

16. Answer 6 Leo is “bitter and stingy”. He has “a weary, brittle jeer”. He is a minor. “Some night you’ll go to sleep with your big nose in a mug and drown,” said Leo. “Prominent transient drowns in beer. That would be a cute death.” (Para. 26) “Mgneeow!” said Leo. (Para.31) “So you have been chasing the floozies for eleven years. You frazzled old rascal!” (Para. 35) Leo is a very bitter, cynical man. He holds the old man in deep contempt and disgust to such an extent that he curses him.

17. Question 7 Pay attention to the description of the old man in paragraph 39. What detail impress you the most?

18. Answer 7 “Very slowly he closed his eyelids, and the gesture was like a curtain drawn at the end of a scene in a play. When he spoke again his voice was excited and the words came fast — the lobes of his large, loose ears seemed to tremble.” The details about his eyelids which closes like a curtain and his large loose ears which seem to tremble are impressive. The picture shows him as a sentimental and emotional person.

19. Question 8 What picture is portrayed about Leo in paragraph 46? Is it a pleasant picture?

20. Answer 8 He had a gray face, with silted eyes, and a pinched nose saddled by faint blue shadows. … He did not give refills on coffee free. … the better Leo knew his customers the stingier he treated them. He nibbled his own bun as though he grudged it to himself. Leo is a very stingy person. He is practical, material, without generosity and sentimentality whatsoever. In contrast to the old man, he is very hard.

21. Question 9 Pay attention to the description of the old man’s nostrils.

22. Answer 9 But as he hovered over the mug his nostrils fluttered slightly; he sniffed the staleness of the beer and did not drink. The old man must be a very sensitive person. He is alert to smells, feelings, and senses.

23. Question 10 What happens to the man when he finally gives up chasing his woman? How do you feel about this?

24. Answer 10 When he physically gives up trying to find his wife, his wife begins to chase him in the soul. A very trivial object or scene will remind him of the woman he loves. The reader might feel strange, or sympathetic towards the man. He is not able to forget the past, no matter what. Love is a thing that he cannot live without, and once it is lost, he becomes a strange and grotesque person.

25. Question 11 Pay attention to the description of the old man’s behavior in paragraph 63. Which details impress you the most?

26. Answer 11 The man leaned his head down and tapped his forehead on the counter. For a few seconds he stayed bowed over in this position, the back of his stringy neck covered with orange furze, his hands with their long warped fingers held palm to palm in an attitude of prayer. Then the man straightened himself; he was smiling and suddenly his face was bright and tremulous and old. The way he holds his palms in an attitude of prayer impresses me the most. In the description the man is lost in his thinking and feeling. He is portrayed as a religious figure, with a strong message of love to impart.

27. Question 12 What do you think of Leo’s cursing the old man this way? Do you think Leo’s anger is justified?

28. Answer 12 Leo, who perhaps has experienced loss and failure and becomes very worldly and cynical, feels angry about the old man’s stupid story and “science” of love. His cursing strikes the reader unreasonably and dramatically, but maybe it hides Leo’s story of his own, which is unknown and which is perhaps not very different from the old man’s. However, Leo’s attitude and the old man’s are totally different.

29. Question 13 As in paragraph 70, once again the conversation is interrupted by the description of the setting, what’s the significance of such an arrangement?

30. Answer 13 The windows in the streetcar were pale blue with light. The two soldiers paid for their beers and opened the door — one of the soldiers combed his hair and wiped off his muddy puttees before they went outside. The three mill workers bent silently over their breakfasts. Leo’s clock was ticking on the wall. It was still raining outside in the street: a mild, gray, endless rain. The mill whistle blew for the six o’clock shift and the three spinners paid and went away. There was no one in the café but Leo, the old man, and the little paper boy. The setting and the theme of the story enhance each other. The rain, the ticking clock, the whistle, the silent customer and the deserted café all indicate the desolateness of the situation. It is a place of no warmth, love and communication and it feels even more strange and spooky of the old man’s story.

31. Question 14 What is the old man’s philosophy of love? What do you think of it?

32. Answer 14 According to his philosophy, love should not begin with a woman. Instead, it should begin with simple things such as a tree, a rock and a cloud. The man is greatly wounded and hurt and dare not love a woman as he used to do. So he develops such a science of love. It shows that he still cherishes a loving heart, yet there is no object for his love but natural objects. I feel greatly sorry for him. While the majority of people like Leo choose to forsake their faith of love, disillusioned and cynical and hard, the old man hangs onto his science in a world of darkness and coldness.

33. Question 15 Does the boy find any answer from Leo about the old man? What adjectives show his confusion? What does the last sentence show about the boy?

34. Answer 15 The boy does not get any satisfying answer from Leo. Adjectives such as “desperate”, “urgent” and “shrill” indicate the boy’s frustration of not being able to understand the old man and the whole thing. The last sentence shows the boy’s resignation as well as his sympathy to the old man. His remark acknowledges the old man is weathered and experienced; maybe when he grows up, he will understand what love is.

35. General question 1 Write down all the sentences describing the setting of the story? How is the setting related to the theme of isolation and communication?

36. Answer 1 (to be continued) It was raining that morning, and still very dark. (Para.1) After the raw, empty street the café seemed friendly and bright… (Para.1) The café was quiet, the soft rain black and endless in the street outside. (Para. 35) …it was still strange to him to be out in the town in the black, queer early morning. (Para. 48) The windows in the streetcar were pale blue with light. The two soldiers paid for their beers and opened the door—one of the soldiers combed his hair and wiped off his muddy puttees before they went outside. The three mill workers bent silently over their breakfasts. Leo’s clock was ticking on the wall. (Para. 70) It was still raining outside in the street: a mild, gray, endless rain. The mill whistle blew for the six o’clock shift and the three spinners paid and went away. There was no one in the café but Leo, the old man, and the little paper boy. (Para. 80 )

37. Answer 1 The story takes place in an all-night café early on a raining morning. It is dark and cold outside. Café is always a place for lonely people who may choose to open their hearts to others. But the darkness, coldness, and silence suggest the breakdown of communication, the failure of reaching out to others.

38. General question 2 The writer gives a vivid portrait of the old man. Fill in the following table about the old man’s appearance and actions. How do you feel about the old man? Would you make friends with him?

39. Answer 2 ( to be continued) NoseBig Hair Faded orange HandLong, crooked, loose FingersLong, warped NeckStringy EyesGreen EarsBig and loose When he drinks coffee, he buries his nose and face in the mug When he purses his lips, it is as if he is about to whistle. Palms are put together as if in a prayer

40. Answer 2 Before he tilts the mug with both hands and sips the coffee, he bends down, puts his face over the rim, and rests there for a moment. When he looks at the boy sadly, he doesn’t blink, instead, his lids close down with delicate gravity over his pale green eyes. When he closes his eyelids, the gesture is like a curtain drawn at the end of a scene in the play. When he speaks, his ears seem to tremble. As the old man hovers over the mug, his nostrils flutter slightly. The man waves his hands as if fanning away flies. When the old man tries to impart his science of love to the boy, his voice is excited and the words come fast; his face is bright and excited. When the boy asks him if he has loved another woman again, for the first time his eyes have a vague and scattered look. When the old man stands in the open doorway, his figure looks shrunken, seedy and frail.

41. General question 3 The story involves three main characters: the unnamed old man, the paper boy and the café owner Leo. Write down all sentences from Leo in this story. Why is he so rude and angry with the old man? What role does he play in the story? Does his cynicism render the old man’s story ridiculous? Why or why not?

42. Answer 3 He is a minor Prominent transient drowns in beer. That would be a cute death. Mgneeow! So you have been chasing the floozies for eleven years. You frazzled old rascal! But the pair of them had vanished from the face of the earth! Can you imagine this bozo’s mind a blank? You draggle-tailed old Romeo! Aw shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Leo is rude to the old man probably because he finds the old man’s story outrageously stupid. Life might have taught him to be hard and tough, and the old man’s sentimentality sounds trash and insult to him. Leo is definitely a very cynical and worldly person. The role he plays in the story is interrupting and drawing the boy’s attention away from the old man. His attitude towards life serves as a perfect antithesis to the old man’s. His cynical and rude interruptions pose a different attitude to love and life, more than render the old man’s story ridiculous. As a result, the boy is left bewildered and confused, caught between two very different adult views towards life.

43. General question 4 What do you think of the old man’s science of love in this story? Do you believe love should begin with a tree, a rock and a cloud? Do you think the love of natural and simple things will eventually lead to the love of a person?

44. Answer 4 To a certain extent this philosophy calls for attention and respect. Love grows in a soft heart, not a heart like Leo’s. A loving heart is susceptible and sensitive to the beauty and change in nature. However, we cannot draw the conclusion that a lover of nature will naturally becomes a good lover of a human being, which involves mutual respect, willing sacrifice, and unselfish giving.

45. A Website of Carson McCullers http://www.carson-mccullers.com