卡森·麦卡勒斯是二十世纪美国南方代表作家之一，也是二十世纪美国最杰出的女性作家之一。《心是孤独的猎手》发表于1940年，是麦卡勒斯的处女作，也是她的成名之作。小说以近乎平行的结构描述了5位主人公不同的心灵历程，集中反映了人与社会、人与人之间的异化疏离，将人类的“精神隔绝”与“孤独”刻画得深刻又真实，实现了“结构与主题的完美融合”。作者在小说创作中使用了大量的象征，这些象征在传达给读者深深的孤独感的同时又深化了小说主题。本文从人物形象和小说结构等角度分析卡森·麦卡勒斯高超的象征手法，同时探讨象征手法与主题的关系，以期充分地发掘麦卡勒斯作品中蕴涵的人文价值与艺术之美，同时也能为研究作者其他小说提供参照。

Carson McCullers is one of the most remarkable southern American writers of twentieth century, who is also one of the most outstanding American female writers. She was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1942-3 and in 1946, and received an award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1945; she was also a Fellow of the Academy. Published in 1940, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter is her maiden work, which also brings her widespread recognition. The novel tells five heroes' lonely situation with an approximately parallel structure. It reflects the alienation of human and society and shows the spiritual isolation and loneliness of human beings. The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter sets the tone of her later writing as the characters, plots, and writing skills frequently reappear. She employs numerous symbols in this fiction, which conveys strong feeling of loneliness to the reader and deepens the theme. This paper analyzes McCullers’ technique of symbolism from the aspects of characters and structure, and explores the relationship between symbolism and theme. Hopefully, the discussion would reveal the humanistic value and beauty; the analysis may inspire others to take the symbolic approach to Carson McCullers’ fictions as well.