A Tree. A Rock. A Cloud. A... Paperboy?

Carson McCullers paints a picture of an all night diner very strategically in the minds of the readers.  The narrator says, “It was raining that morning, and still very dark,” (line 1) only to juxtapose it with the café- “after the raw, empty street the café seemed friendly and bright,” (line 4). Inside however, it proves to be more than just a reprieve from a young man’s paper route- the café offers an anecdote and a life lesson, while the details describing the café parallel the irony of this lesson.

            The description of the café given by the narrator subconsciously sets the mood and establishes a theme in the reader’s mind. Although it appears to be cheery from the outside, the service is poor and the company is practically nonexistent. The café is nearly empty, and although the young boy sometimes finds friendly conversation with the other customers, none of them seem particularly sociable on the morning this story takes place, with one exception. Inside, with a stingy cook and quiet accomplices, the café conveys a sense of loneliness that underlies the entire message of the story.

            The only café-goer who appears to be in a talkative mood during the story is an old man drinking alone, who attempts to impart his wisdom upon the young man, after confessing that he loves him. After his wife left him, he was so upset that he searched frantically for her all over the country, but without luck. Since then he has begun practicing what some would consider a new religion- he has transformed his love for her into a love for everything around him i.e. a tree, a rock, a cloud. He claims that this method has completely cured his broken heart; he even has it down to a fine science, the end result being his love transferring again to the love of another person (but he isn’t there yet). Most readers, however, would then begin to question how happy the man could really be if he’s sitting by himself in an all-night café, telling and retelling his story to whoever will listen. His ideas are much like the café: appealing on the outside, but in all actuality really very depressing.