If I remember correctly, John Henry died of exhaustion after beating a steam powered rock drill in a steel driving contest.
You're welcome.

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Well, I watched the film for the first time last week and made the the mistake of turning on the commentary by a so-called "McCullers scholar," who even before the credits finish rolling, manages to reveal two major plot points!
May I bone your kipper, Mademoiselle?

wow great spoiler alert

Those three singing that song is an ace moment. Also Berenice croaking the song to herself at the sad ending.

I thought the scene of Frankie, Berneice, and John Henry singing "His Eye Is On The Sparrow" is even more poignant knowing what eventually become of John Henry. So Sad.

"In the book, however, it says that John Henry died of spinal meningitis. It's also very sudden in the book, although he screams in pain for three days before he dies."
So that's what Berenice meant by him "suffering so". That's so sad.
Don't
eva
let nobody tell you you ain't
strong enough

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I believe you are right about this, tho I don't have my old copy handy. It's quite ghastly all the same. Poor little darling.

He also goes blind in the book, doesn't he?

No, you didn't miss anything; it's never made clear what his illness is in the movie. In the book, however, it says that John Henry died of spinal meningitis. It's also very sudden in the book, although he screams in pain for three days before he dies.

I wrote a term paper on the novel when I was a junior in high school. I read the novel then (and only then) and I honestly don't remember if the book spoke of the actual cause of John Henry's death.
I remember passages from my one reading of the Carson McCullers novel to this day. Seeing the film as a child (and later) and reading the book as a teenager left a lasting impression on me. Carson McCullers also wrote the stage play that the movie was adapted from.
Regretfully, I know nothing of McCullers's other novels, such as, "The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter" and "Reflections In A Golden Eye" which have also been adapted to film.
John Martin, 47, Texas

Thanks! I appreciate both of the responses to my original question.
Paul

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I wonder the same thing toothe day before the wedding, John Henry said he was sick, Berenice said he wasn't and was only wanting attention, whatever he had didn't affect she or Frankie or anybody else he was around, so maybe it was a severe reaction to some childhood disease or something. I don't know, maybe it explains in the book but I don't know, I haven't read that far.