To pick up where I left off--John Singer takes Biff Brannon home to Singer's room to sober up.
John Singer, a most curious character. As a mute, he doesn't merit much attention from the other characters, but it his appearance that gets looks from others. McCullers constantly refers to Singer as appearing feline. Singer is immaculately clean and has glittering gray eyes. It is Singer's physiognome that has Mick Kelly, Biff Brannon, Jake Blount, and soon Doctor Copeland fascinated with him. Indeed, it is Singer's silence that allows the others to create their own realities of Singer. McCullers says that Singer once learned how to speak, but claimed it was painful to him and dropped the habit. With amazing intelligence, Singer learned to read and write as well as lip read what others say.
The afternoon after Singer takes Blount back to his apartment, Blount awakens and seems disoriented, but comforted by Singer's presence. After weeks of inebriation and drunken rambles, Blount is able to cognite his true thoughts. On a whim, Blount uses Singer as a confidant and is delighted to discover the fact that Singer "understands" Blount's message and the plight of the laboring man.
The others follow in fashion. Mick Kelly--the girl who dresses as a boy and struggles with adolescence, not fitting in, and a passion for music on the poor can have--lives in the same house as Singer. She seems to believe that Singer has an understanding of music, even though Singer cannot hear music itself. When Singer buys a radio for Mick, she spends less time talking to him and more time listening to the masterpieces of classical music (a direct connection to McCullers herself, a devoted music lover).
Biff Brannon begins speaking to Singer after Singer takes Blount home, and following the death of Brannon's nagging wife. Brannon is the character who is not the champion of a worthy cause of improving the human condition, but instead improving his own existence. He denied himself in his married life, but has allowed himself luxury as a widower. Brannon is certainly an enigmatic character, but there is a possibility of homosexuality (an unspoken parallel to Singer himself) after Brannon takes to wearing his wife's old perfume. One could interpret Brannon's struggle as trying to justify his existence after his wife has died; finding the point in continuing the New York Cafe as a refuge for the rejects of society. Of all of the characters who confide in Singer, Brannon seems to be the closest resemblance to a friend that Singer has.
Doctor Copeland is the last major character who uses Singer as a confidant. Like many other characters (including a Turkish man who believes the American Singer speaks Turkish), Doctor Copeland is an ardent believer that Singer understands the concepts Copeland is laying out to him. Doctor Copeland's sole issue is improving the condition of blacks everywhere. As a doctor, Copeland only treats black patients, and is constantly faced with uneducated, poverty-stricken patients who have no idea how to improve their lives. Copeland has been obsessed with justice for blacks since he was a young man studying medicine; into his marriage to a nice girl from a mildly successful black family. The wife's family was deeply religious and cared little for black empowerment, and even less for Doctor Copeland taking one of their own to the city. Doctor Copeland had a family, but was eaten up with his one true cause. The cause manifested itself in bursts of seething rage, and when he could not control himself during one of these moments, Doctor Copeland hit his wife. His wife left, taking all of their children (Portia, William, and Karl Marx ["Buddy"]). Since that time, retrieving his family became an obsession in the shadow of achieving racial justice.
I hate to say I don't remember how Doctor Copeland and Singer met up, but I would say it probably happened the first night, during the instance of Blount's wild drunkenness. It wasn't long before Doctor Copelan was visiting Singer's room regularly, to speak with Singer about issues he believed Singer understood. Doctor Copeland constantly said that Singer was a singular white man, and different from all of the rest. Singer himself had difficulty relating to Copeland's fixation. There is irony in the fact that Doctor Copeland believed Singer to be a Jew.
I will continue this soon. I think I chose a difficult book to analyze, because there are so many details and happenings to give a complete picture.
