<i>...Reflections in a Golden Eye </i> <b> is one of the purest and most powerful of those works which are conceived in that Sense of The Awful which is the desperate black root of nearly all significant modern art, from the </b> <i> Guernica </i> <b> of Picasso to the cartoons of Charles Addams.
                                      Tennessee Williams </b> in the afterword 

At the time that McCullers wrote this novel, she was living in Fayetteville, North Carolina near Fort Bragg.  The original title was 'Army Post.'  The idea for the story had come into being when she visited Fort Benning, Georgia, as a teenager.  Later, the idea was given momentum by a story her husband, Reeves McCullers (an ex-soldier) told her about a young soldier at Fort Bragg, who was arrested for voyeuristic behavior.  The movie based on McCullers's novel, directed by John Huston and starring Marlon Brando and Elizabeth Taylor premiered on October 13, 1967.  McCullers died two weeks prior to the movie's premiere, at age 50. 

This was McCullers's second novel and according to Tennessee Williams's afterward was not received well in the literary community due to its darker subject matter.

McCullers plays upon the readers sense of dread, we could also call it anxiety, by letting us know that someone is going to be murdered.  This is not a spoiler.  We learn it on the first page.  

<b>There is a fort in the South where a few years ago a murder was committed.  The participants of this tragedy were:  two officers, a soldier, two women, a Filipino, and a horse.  </b>  As I begin to know the characters, my sense of anxiety is heightened.  Which one will it be?  Leonora Penderton is something of a siren, beautiful, voluptuous, knows how to host a party, and is having an affair with next door neighbor, Major Morris Langdon.  Her husband, Captain Penderton is aware of the affair and accepts it, McCullers writes, <b>the Captain did not dwell on this. </b> In this cast of mostly unlikely characters, Captain Penderton is my least favorite.  A man whose head is full of book knowledge but doesn't know how to come up with any ideas on his own.  In secret, he is cruel to animals.  

The Major's wife, Alison Langdon is a sickly woman who knows about her husband's infidelity.  Of these four characters, she garners the most sympathy.  Trapped in a loveless marriage with few choices due to her health, Alison finds joy in music and the attentions of her houseboy, Anacleto.  Anacleto has been with Mrs. Langdon since he was seventeen years old and is devoted to her happiness.  

The other significant characters are Private Ellgee Williams and Leonora's horse, Firebird.  McCullers attributes animal qualities to Williams.  His eyes have a <b> mute expression that is found usually in the eyes of animals.....he moves with the silence and agility of a wild creature or a thief. </b>  He is mysterious, a loner, and spends a lot of time in the woods.  Throughout the story, he will have small interactions with Captain Penderton.  These interactions don't seem to mean all that much to Williams, but they steadily grow in meaning to the Captain, until the Captain begins to hate Williams.  This hate allows the Captain to lie to himself about his attraction to Williams.  Williams on the other hand, is attracted to Leonora and comes into her bedroom at night just to watch her. . . truly creepy behavior.

Private Williams often works in the stable and saddles Firebird for Leonora Penderton.  One day, the Captain wants to ride his wife's horse.  A power struggle between man and horse ensues.  <b> The Captain felt suddenly that he was to be thrown, and not only thrown but killed.  The Captain always had been afraid of horses:  he only rode because it was the thing to do, and because this was another one of his ways of tormenting himself. </b>

I can't say this novel was enjoyable, but I do find McCullers work singularly intriguing.  I am captivated by how she draws her characters, even when, maybe especially when they are kind of weird and unlikeable or self-unaware.  



                  

I only read it for my book club