The novel gives a wide image of the American South, despite it being set in one small town. The American Dream offers each person the right to pursue happiness, the freedom to strive for a better life through diligent work and ambition without the restrictions of class, race, religion, or ethnicity (“A better life”). This is clearly shown when McCullers has Dr. Copeland speak on his perspective on the matter:
Benedict Copeland, the boys were all called. But for the girls there were such names as Benny Mae or Madyben or Benedine Madine. He had counted one day, and there were more than a dozen named for him. But all his life he had told and explained and exhorted. You cannot do this, he would say. There are all reasons why this sixth or fifth or ninth child cannot be, he would tell them. It is not more children we need but more chances for the ones already on the earth. Eugenic Parenthood for the Negro Race was what he would exhort them to. He would tell them in simple words, always the same way, and with the years it came to be a sort of angry poem which he had always known by heart (McCullers 74).
…show more content…
Copeland devoted his life to helping the black community as the town is filled with babies named after Doctor Benedict Copeland, who delivered them. However, Copeland does not just deliver these babies, he also offers advice to the parents. Copeland strives for racial equity, but he is distanced from his people by his intellectualism. He strives to elevate his race from their current social status and explains that the African American race does not need more children, but more chances. Copeland resents white people who treat him and other blacks negligently, and this is demonstrated when his son is treated unequally. Willie ’sassed back' one of the white guards at the prison where he was sent for injuring another Negro with a