Dysfunction in a World of Order Essay -- Character Analysis, Private W

Carson McCullers â€Å"Reflections of a Golden Eye† is a story about the lives of a six dysfunctional people living on an army post during peacetime. The characters lives are entwined both public and private, but when the private becomes public it reveals a truth that leads to path of destruction. Private Williams is a solitary man full of secrets and desires. Captain Weldon Penderton, a closeted homosexual, and his cheating wife Lenora have a fiery relationship. Major Morris Langdon, who is having and affair with Lenora, lives next door to the Pendertons with his unstable wife Alison and their flamboyant Filipino houseboy Anacleto. McCuller’s writes about these characters as if she can identify with each of their struggles to conform to world around them. She pulls the reader into a world where â€Å"man’s capacity for error, cruelty, guilt, self deception and self- destruction† creates chaos (Dayton 421). McCullers shows the reader a hars h view of low-self esteem and desires while conveying the importance of being true to oneself in order to foster healthy relationships. Many People, who are raised in an environment that do not include interacting with different types of people, often struggle with building relationships with people they don’t know. Private Williams has no social skills; he is an introvert who lives his life in self-imposed isolation even though people on the army post surround him. Williams is much like Mr. Singer’s character in the â€Å"Heart is a Lonely Hunter† for though â€Å"he appears to be fully and actively engaged in life, he too is trapped in his own grotesquerie, unable to establish that vital contact with some other person which would make him fully and recognizable human† (Vickery 21). ... ...eldon. If fact, their selfish affair has had a direct or indirect negative impact on everyone in the story. Lenora and Morris cannot see beyond their primal passions to realize or care about the cause and effect of their infidelity. This is the case of many people who venture outside of the martial commitment. Instant gratification and the lack of control have ruined many marriages. Lenora and Morris’s affair causes tragedies for the rest of the clan. In Conclusion, McCullers story is about six people struggles to conform to a world around them. She shows a world where â€Å"man’s capacity for error, cruelty, guilt, self deception and self- destruction† creates chaos (Dayton 421). McCullers shows the reader a harsh view of low-self esteem and desires while conveying the importance of being true to oneself in order to foster healthy relationships.