Isolation and the nature of love in Carson Mccullers's the ballad of the sad café
Author
Source
Issue
Vol. 2012, Issue 101 (30 Sep. 2012), pp.71-95, 25 p.
Publisher
University of Baghdad College of Arts
Publication Date
2012-09-30
Country of Publication
Iraq
No. of Pages
25
Main Subjects
Topics
Abstract EN
The paper tackles the novel of Carson McCullers The Ballad of the Sad Café, through examining the nature of love whether it is an agape or an eros; in both cases love leads to isolation, for it thrives on destroying the other's communal self.
The fiction of Carson McCullers is gothic, grotesque, and bizarre that preferred to dwell on her ostensible preoccupation with morbidity rather than the psychological aspect of her works.
The novel, indeed, dwells in the uncommon romance between the manly giantess, Miss Amelia, and the effeminate little hunchback Cousin Lymon, a ludicrous parody of courtly love, where the rules of male lover and female beloved are scrambled and in which all the social amenities are scrupulously observed.
Cousin Lymon deserts his benefactor-lover, who used to feed him and dress him in grand style, and leaves her despairing in resignation over her rejected love, and turns a recluse in the end.
Rejecting a self-negating and demanding love suggests replacing it by self-fulfilment and a resorting to companionship, McCullers seems to praise Agape "the brotherly love of God", the heroic act in her novel is to love on an individual basis.
This facilitates the full realization of one's own potential, from which the community can benefit.
Accepting differences within the self is difficult at best in the literature of this period when the prevailing attitude is one of conformity and the individual who resists is deemed "maladjusted", "misfit", and even "grotesque".
Social values and illusory escapes only distract these individuals from self-realisation.
It is love only that offers support and at the same time generates a fear of leaving the one vulnerable; a kind of commitment to life.
The paper focuses on the nature of the Miss Amelia-Cousin Lymon, Miss Amelia- David Macy, and Lymon-David Macy relationships and self definition of each one of them.
American Psychological Association (APA)
Husayn, Fatimah Rahim. 2012. Isolation and the nature of love in Carson Mccullers's the ballad of the sad café. al-Adab Journal،Vol. 2012, no. 101, pp.71-95.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-336506
Modern Language Association (MLA)
Husayn, Fatimah Rahim. Isolation and the nature of love in Carson Mccullers's the ballad of the sad café. al-Adab Journal No. 101 (2012), pp.71-95.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-336506
American Medical Association (AMA)
Husayn, Fatimah Rahim. Isolation and the nature of love in Carson Mccullers's the ballad of the sad café. al-Adab Journal. 2012. Vol. 2012, no. 101, pp.71-95.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-336506
Data Type
Journal Articles
Language
English
Notes
Includes bibliographical references : p. 93-95
Record ID
BIM-336506