Flannery O'Connor

In class, we have read a couple of Flannery O’ Connor’s short stories which include A Good Man is Hard to Find, Good Country People, and Revelations. After reading these stories, I noticed that Flannery O’ Connor changes the story but in a sense keeps the same main characters in every story. The main things that change between these characters are how they decide to handle a situation and their names; the things that do not change are often the outlook that they have on the world. I noticed the grandma from A Good Man is Hard to Find and Ruby Turpin from Revelations follow the criteria that I listed above. Throughout this paper, I am going to discuss the similarities and differences between the grandma and Ruby Turpin.

"The Turkey" most genuinely represents the significant connection between language and belief that came to pervade O'Connor's work. This story also reveals her ear for southern dialect and marks one of her first attempts at the literary irony for which she later became famous. This stabilizing and productive time was interrupted in 1950, however, when O'Connor was stricken with lupus, the incurable, autoimmune disease that was then treated only by the use of steroid drugs. O'Connor survived the first life-threatening attack, but she was forced to return to Milledgeville permanently. Remaining in this historic central Georgia town for the rest of her life, from 1951 until 1964, O'Connor lived quietly at Andalusia, the family farm just outside town. In spite of the debilitating effects of the drugs used for treating lupus, O'Connor managed to devote a good part of every day to writing, and she even took a surprising number of trips to lecture and read from her

“The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.”- Flannery O’Connor. After reading a few of O’Connor’s stories, it is apparent that she creates very grotesque characters with very shocking conclusions. Without knowing of her style before hand, finishing one of her stories can be alarming and disturbing, but there is always a purpose and meaning to extend upon her themes. When talking about what people thought of this, O’Connor said, “when I see these stories described as horror stories I am always amused because the reviewer always has hold of the wrong horror.” For example, in A Good Man Is Hard to Find many people would see the misfit as the most disturbing when in actuality, O’Connor uses the Grandmother so make the biggest comment morals.

Known for her unique collection of short stories, Flannery O’Connor had a major impact on the writing industry during the 20th century. She is still to this day considered one of the most famous American authors. She very well shows that your life really impacts your writing technique, and tone of writing.

Throughout the story, Flannery O’Connor makes use of many rhetorical appeals to prove the theme that one’s ignorance and bigotry can blind themselves of their own repulsive behaviors, and it is apparent when Mrs. Turpin realizes how truly ugly her own personality

Flannery O’Connor’s philosophy of writing was directly related to her life and roots as a Southerner, a Catholic, and a woman. One of the Southern traditions that O’Connor used most in her writing was local customs and manners which make people laughable. “Exaggeration of characteristics and of incidents is one cause of our laughter in O’Connor’s stories” (Grimshaw 89). She would regularly expose the hypocrisy of character’s thoughts by exaggerating their ridiculous actions in moments of distress causing readers to feel both horror and humor at the same time. Also present in most of O’Connor’s work, is her Catholic faith with regards to her vision of grace and the devil. Her view of faith was complete in the sense that it had a beginning, middle, and end, but she wrestled with Protestantism and depicted hypocrisy and intolerance when she found them (Grimshaw

There are many themes within Flannery O’Connor’s short story “Good Country People”. Religion is definitely one of the more prominent themes that the story holds. Like most of O’Connor’s works, it plays a big part in the actions or characteristics of the main characters. This is all on the surface however. The more important and less accentuated theme is the various facades the characters create for themselves. These facades prevent them from facing their true “grotesque” selves. These facades also hide their weaknesses that they have no wish to face ort just can’t understand. People must be comfortable with every aspect of themselves, because certain people, who in this story

Flannery O'Connor remained a devout Catholic throughout, and this fact, coupled with the constant awareness of her own impending death, both filtered through an acute literary sensibility, gives us valuable insight into just what went into those thirty-two short stories and the two novels: cathartic bitterness, a belief in grace as something devastating to the recipient, a gelid concept of salvation, and violence as a force for good. At first it might seem that these aspects of her writing would detract from,

Flannery O’Connor believed in the power of religion to give new purpose to life. She saw the fall of the old world, felt the force and presence of God, and her allegorical fictions often portray characters who discover themselves transforming to the Catholic mind. Though her literature does not preach, she uses subtle, thematic undertones and it is apparent that as her characters struggle through violence and pain, divine grace is thrown at them. In her story “Revelation,” the protagonist, Mrs. Turpin, acts sanctimoniously, but ironically the virtue that gives her eminence is what brings about her downfall. Mrs. Turpin’s veneer of so called good behavior fails to fill the void that would bring her to heaven. Grace hits her with force and their illusions, causing a traumatic collapse exposing the emptiness of her philosophy. As Flannery O’Connor said, “In Good Fiction, certain of the details will tend to accumulate meaning from the action of the story itself, and when this happens they become symbolic in the way they work.” (487). The significance is not in the plot or the actual events, but rather the meaning is between the lines.

Flannery O’Connor, known for her original Southern Gothic style of prose has been titled “the master of the short story” (O’Connor). Her application of symbolism and the themes of Southern religion deem her as one of the most influential writers in American history. Born in Savannah, Georgia in 1925 and raised in the South, O’Connor was socialized as a member of the Catholic Church which proves evident throughout her writings. She studied journalism at the University of Iowa, but quickly migrated back to the South where she wrote most of her works: two novels, 32 short stories, and a number of commentaries and reviews. When diagnosed with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, the same illness that killed her father when she was young, she

Flannery O'Conner has again provided her audience a carefully woven tale with fascinating and intricate characters. "The Displaced Person" introduces the reader to some interesting characters who experience major life changes in front of the reader's eyes. The reader ventures into the minds of two of the more complex characters in "The Displaced Person," Mrs. McIntyre and Mrs. Shortley, and discovers an unwillingness to adapt to change. Furthermore, the intricate details of their characters are revealed throughout the story. Through these details, the reader can see that both Mrs. McIntyre and Mrs. Shortley suffer from a lack of spiritual dimension that hinders them as they face some of

O’Connor also focuses on contrasting characters in her story to bring the plot along, for example the conflict in the story is between Mrs. May and Mr. Greenleaf, two almost completely opposite characters. Mrs. May is shown as a bitter character who blames others for her problems, although most are self-inflicted. Such as how she hired Mr. Greenleaf for fifteen years although she obviously hates him, or how she ends up raising bitter and cruel sons who treat her with no respect. On the other hand the Greenleaf’s is simple, although uneducated, but manages to raise two successful sons, unlike Mrs. May’s. However, Mrs. May looks down on Mr. Greenleaf because she feels he is inferior to her in social standing and intelligence. . For example when she went to O.T. and E.T.’s farm and saw their milking parlor, she decided automatically that they were paid for the Government and the boys didn’t work for it. Mrs. May says how “I would have to do it myself. I am not assisted hand and foot by the Government.” This illustrates how Mrs. May still thinks less of the Greenleafs, even if they have a better farm then her because she thinks they did not gain it themselves, that it was instead paid for by the Government. The Greenleaf boys have a better working farm then her, and therefore are a little higher than her in

Flannery O’Connor is an author who ironically reveals and delivers her characters through the grotesque. She oftens uses imagery that is symbolic of an important point in the moral of the story. These epiphanies change and develop the characters right at the climax of her story, where the character is typically delivered. As a certain author once said which still remains true about O’Connor’s characters in her writings is, “All are guilty; all are evil. The distinctions are between those who know of God’s mercy and those who do not, between those who think they can save themselves, either for this life or the next, and those who are driven, in spite of their own failing, to do God’s purpose. “ (Sullivan, Walter). O’Connor often refers to Christianity,

In addition, a professor of literature at Minnot State University and author of Flannery O’Connor: A Study of the Short Fiction, Susanne Morrow Paulson critics, “O’Connor’s stories and manuscripts frequently represent aversive tendencies; racial prejudice is associated with aversions towards dirt, the excremental body, and death” (Paulson 69). In an unfinished book by O’Connor, she compared an African American man to dung. This comparison demonstrates the racial issues, which were present during the time and in her writing. The theme of racism is present throughout many of her stories. She subtly incorporates racial conflicts into her literature and explains the treatment of African American in America. O’Connor portrays blacks as uneducated people who are criminals, which was a reality during this time in the south. In like manner, O’Connor portrays the conduct in the “Artificial Nigger,” with the character Mr. Head. He exclaims, “’you ain’t ever seen a nigger,” Mr. Head repeated. “’There hasn’t been a nigger in this county since we run that one out twelve years ago and that was before you were born.’ He looked at the boy as if he were daring him to say he had ever seen a Negro.” O’Connor uses the character Mr. Head, trying to imprint his racist beliefs onto his grandson, Nelson, to show “how racism is passed down through the generations” (Kirk

O'connor implies the social flow, rights and equality of both races. The story also suggests the past is nothing, and the present changes in society are far more important.