Sucker
Carson McCullers [US] 1917-1967
OUTLINE
Author
Plot
Questions
Theme
Characters Lessons Language
1. About the Author
Carson McCullers was an
American writer. She wrote
novels, short stories, and two
plays, as well as essays and some
poetry. A series of strokes she
suffered as a child left her partly
paralyzed. She typically set her
stories in small Southern
communities and depicted the
inner lives of lonely people.
Read more in the NOTE.
(19 Feb 1917 – 29 Sept 1967)
2. Plot Summary
I had a cousin nicknamed Sucker sleeping in my
bed with me. I used to take no notice of him.
On the night when my relationship with
Maybelle began to take a favorable turn, I
talked a lot with Sucker and came to understand
his loneliness better and treat him better.
One night after my finish with M, I got
so mad at Sucker and hurt him deeply
with humiliating remarks.
I regreted about what I had done to him, but I
didn’t find the courage to get things straight.
3. Questions about Details

Why did Sucker come to live with my family?

How did he get the nickname?

How did I use to treat him? Give an example.

When did all this trouble begin?

When did the real trouble start? Why?

How did his look change throughout the story?

Act Sucker’s entering the cinema.

Act out the dialogue between S and me that night? 37-8

What did I do to make up for the wrong? Why?
4. The Theme
“Her first novel The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
explores the spiritual isolation of misfits and
outcasts of the South. Her other novels have
similar themes and are all set in the South.”
 "No one has written more feelingly than her
about the plight of the eccentric, " Kiernan
contended, "and no one has written more
understandingly than she about adolescent
loneliness and desperation."
5. Character Analysis
Sucker
Pitiful, credulous/trustful, pure-hearted,
lonely, fragile, timid, quiet, etc.
I
Self-centered, concerned about face saving, etc.
Maybelle
Enjoying dressing up, beautiful, etc.
6. Lessons Learned
 … it is the person who doesn’t notice you
that you are apt to admire.
 You understand people better when you
are happy …
 sometimes words cut more than swords.
 Love and reason don’t go together.
 A friend who shares is a friend who cares.
7. Language Points
Expressions
Have … to oneself, meddle with, take in, come to,
make out, run after, put my mind on, on my mind,
fool with, get on my nerves, etc.
Sentences
Either she would act almost nice and I would begin
thinking how things would finally clear up and she
would care for me—or else she'd behave so that if she
hadn't been a girl I'd have wanted to grab her by that
white little neck and choke her.
Your questions?