Grotesque characters in literature can hardly be considered lovable since they are strangers and freaks to ordinary society. Carson McCullers' novel "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" falls under the category of Southern grotesque style. However, McCullers succeeds in the difficult task of making a grotesque characters lovable and not repulsive by making their actions and points of views understandable to the reader. Her main characters struggle against loneliness, loss of innocence and confusion of self. Biff Brannon, one of the main characters, struggles against the loneliness and lack of love in his life trying to find reasons as to why he has so many confusing desires and questions. In her novel, McCullers uses the second chapter of Part II to provide the reader with a deeper insight into Biff Brannon's personality, his secret internal longing for living in a world filled with childlike innocence and purity, the apathetic relationship he holds with his wife, his desires for true love in his life, and finally to narrate the successful spiritual rebirth Biff undergoes at the end of the sections.
             The Second Chapter opens with a descriptive passage that emphasizes Biff Brannon's internal longing for a relationship that conveys both the purity and innocence of childhood. Biff Brannon, owner of the New York Café, eagerly waits several times a week for a young girl named Mick Kelly to come in and buy hot chocolate. Biff knows that her family is poor so "he serve[s] it to her for a nickel instead of a dime and he want[s] to give it to her for free" (121). Biff wishes for Mick to visit more often, so he gives it to her for the half the price. He likes it when Mick comes around because these moments provide Biff with the opportunity to study her childlikeness. Biff is a grown man with marital and economic problems who is fascinated by her simple, childlike perspective that a cup of hot chocola...