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An essay on Carson McCullers book the Ballad of Sad Cafe


waldo01 6 / 19  
Feb 22, 2012   #1
Hi, So i did an essay on Carson McCullers book the Ballad of sad cafe and i had to include the following in my essay.

1. Why he comes to find miss Amelia
2. Stays with Miss Amelia
3.Is the center of activity at the cafe
4.first meets marvin in town
5.behaves the way he does toward marvin

If you guize could please edit this and be harsh as possible and tell me if i explained the above in my essay. So is my essay good and please please help me edit for grammar and spelling and other things and be very harsh in your replies. Thanks if u edit mine ill edit urs. Thanks a bunch :)

The Ballad of the Sad Café: By Carson McCullers

"The Ballad of the Sad Café" is an excellent novella written by Carson McCullers that takes unusual turns and twists in a surprising way. The novella explores the theme of love that revolves around three significant characters Miss Amelia, Marvin Macy, and Cousin Lymon in a love triangle that takes the reader on a whole new level. Cousin Lymon is one of the characters in the story who has proven himself to be a grotesque, an attention seeker, and lastly portraying dependent and histrionic behavior.

"The Ballad of Sad Café" by Carson McCullers is a story of a love triangle set in a small mill town in Georgia. The town is described as dreary, lonesome, and sad that is far off and estranged from all other places in the world. Lymon is an extraordinary character in the novella that arrives in this isolated town claiming kinship with Miss Amelia, the richest woman in town. Lymon is an unusually looking grotesque character in McCullers story as it stated in the book "the man was a hunchback. He was scarcely more than four feet tall" (6) He was not very attractive "His crooked little legs seemed too thin to carry the weight of his warped chest and the hump that sat on his shoulders" but on the contradictory he is an intelligent individual who successfully manages to fool Miss Amelia into thinking he was her actual cousin "the hunchback scrambled among these belongings and brought out an old photograph" (8). Through this old photograph Lymon is able to prove he is indeed her cousin although it is hard to distinguish the faces of the two women in the picture. Cousin Lymon is a poor individual who perhaps comes searching for Miss Amelia to take advantage of her wealth. Miss Amelia takes accepts Lymon quickly into her home leaving the townspeople dumb founded as this was an unusual thing to do by her. Miss Amelia falls in love with Lymon and provides him with clean clothes, food, and even offers him her father's room which is ironic. Miss Amelia is so in love in with Cousin Lymon that she even lets him have anything he wants including a mechanical piano that he cajoled her into buying.

Cousin Lymon has proven himself to be a sociable person who enjoys entertaining the town's people with his tales. He is an attention seeker who lives life to the fullest and enjoys being the center of activity at the café. It was he who had persuaded Miss Amelia into transforming her store into a café just for his own pleasure of entertaining people. Miss Amelia allows the transformation to occur out of love for Lymon. Soon the store is transformed into the café and the café became a great form of entertainment for the town's people. People became more polite and were amused by Lymon's presence at the café. Lymon enjoyed setting up people into fights as it states in the book "The hunchback was a great mischief maker... every other fight for the matter since he had come in town" (39) even though the hunchback was the one to be blamed for the fights that he set up miraculously but "queerly enough, in spite of this it was the hunchback who was most responsible for the great popularity of the café" (39). However, the transformation of the café had caused Lymon to act as the boss and the owner of the café "as one who owns every plank of the floor beneath his feet" (18). Lymon was the main form entertainment for the café who enjoyed watching people fight for his own pleasure.

With the arrival of Marvin Macy in town Lymon's behavior and attitude changes completely. Lymon "turns pale" (47) when he spots Marvin Macy which is odd as he does not know about the ten day marriage ordeal of Miss Amelia and Marvin. The author suggests that Marvin and Lymon might have known each other from before "He and the man stared at each other, and it was not a look of two strangers meeting for the first time... peculiar stare they exchanged between them, like the look of two criminals who recognized each other" (46). Cousin Lymon starts to carefully strut and follow around Marvin Macy, "keeping many paces away". In addition, he is fascinated by Marvin's adventurous life. Cousin Lymon behavior toward Marvin is immature and childish clearly unimpressive and unflattering to the town's people as it states in the book "He stood there wiggling his large pale ears with marvelous quickness and ease" (48). Furthermore, even when Lymon realizes that his accomplishments are getting him no where he still added new efforts to impress Marvin "He fluttered his eyelids, so that they were like pale...swamphaunt". Even when Marvin hit's him making him fall back he shows no shame and still attempts to impress him and to prove he is the best.

In conclusion, The Ballad of Sad Café by Carson McCullers is an engaging and interesting novella with eccentric characters like Cousin Lymon who loves to live life to the fullest. He adores being the center of attention and is a character that enjoys setting up individuals into fights. In addition, he is smart enough to fool and take advantage of people such as Miss Amelia who had loved him and gave him everything he asked for although he in return does not offer her anything back leaving her heart broken. Throughout the story, Cousin Lymon has proven himself to be a selfish man who does not care for anyone but himself. As George R.R. Martin quotes "Love is poison. A sweet poison, yes, but it will kill you all the same." Just like it had killed and crushed the lives of Miss Amelia, Marvin, and Lymon who found no happiness just pain and solitude out of love
fida10 3 / 6  
Feb 22, 2012   #2
...around three significant characters: Miss Amelia, Marvin Macy, and Cousin Lymon...

...The town is described as dreary, lonesome, and sad, that is far off and estranged from all other places in the world...

...Lymon is an unusually looking grotesque character in McCullers story as it stated in the book: "the man was a hunchback. He...

Your just missing some punctuation here and there, nothing too serious. I'd suggest you to read it over a few times, they should be easy to find.

Also, try not to use too many adjectives when you describe something. That makes things somewhat redundant, and uses up unnecessary space. Example:

...In conclusion, The Ballad of Sad Café by Carson McCullers is an engaging and interesting novella with eccentric characters like Cousin Lymon, who...

Best of luck!


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