"...dont think I am broad shouldered but that is the way I feel about life and me I mean."

Miss Lonelyhearts reads this letter from "Broad Shoulders" in "Miss Lonelyhearts Returns," shortly after he vows to be more humble and affirms that Christ died and suffered for humanity. The letter from "Broad Shoulders," which shows that suffering is not at all extinguished in the world, quickly overturns Miss Lonelyhearts's affirmations and vows. The letter is yet another extended narrative of male abuse and female helplessness. While Miss Lonelyhearts had previously observed that his readers' letters expressed "inarticulate" suffering, they are "inarticulate" only on the level of proper literary style, as the run-on, ungrammatical passage shows. However, this childlike aesthetic also hides deeper sorrows; the ingenious name Broad Shoulders gives herself transforms her body into that of a virtual grotesque while recalling images of Atlas and even a crucified Christ.