The Grotesque

Elena Quesada Pereda Professor Marcos Norris ENGL 290 5 May 2016 The Grotesque Pursue of Goodness in A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor “The great advantage of being a Southern writer is that we don’t have to go anywhere to look for manners; bad or good, we’ve got them in abundance. We in the South live in a society that is rich in contradiction, rich in irony, rich in contrast, and particularly rich in its speech” (Flannery O’Connor). Mary Flannery O’Connor was born in 1925 in a

The grotesque can be defined in numerous manners. The grotesque can be regarded as the distortion of an entity and the combination between animalistic and human attributes. The element of the grotesque is commonly used as a device that blurs the borders between reality and fiction. Moreover, it alters the familiar scenery into another unfamiliar and almost peculiar artistry. The grotesque element is prominent in the gothic fictional novels. It enhances the turbulent settings, and macabre occurrences

Most people when asked to describe what the word grotesque means they might refer to the dictionary’s definition of the word, which according to The American Heritage Dictionary the meaning of grotesque is “characterized by ludicrous, repulsive, or incongruous distortion, as of appearance or manner.” Not only can one be grotesque with one’s appearance but also their behavior. Sherwood Anderson in his book Winesburg Ohio mentions that “the grotesques were not all horrible. Some were amusing, some almost

criticized for the religious content and “grotesque” characters often incorporated into her works. They were considered too “brutal”, too “sarcastic.” (The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O 'Connor). O’Connor begged to differ. Through her essay, “Some Aspects of the Grotesque in Southern Fiction”, she defends the individuality and moral value of Southern fiction. She makes a clear distinction between the correct and incorrect usages of the “grotesque”. Many fiction authors, particularly those

Cruel Optimism and Grotesque in “Hands”, Winesburg, Ohio Sherwood Anderson (1876 – 1941), an American short story writer and novelist, is famous for subjective and self-revealing works. In “Winesburg, Ohio” (1919), a collection of short stories, Anderson wrote about citizens in Winesburg, Ohio; most of the characters are grotesque, misunderstanding, inability to articulate, and alienation in society. The grotesques should be pitied rather than dismissed. They have dream of ambition; they try to live

Ruskin associate the grotesque with failure? The concept of failure is often repeated in Ruskin’s writings. It forms the basis for all other themes and every topic seems to always be traceable back to the idea of failure. Ruskin however, does not consider it to be negative. Synonymous to imperfection, it is an inevitable part of the creation of art. He believes that art is not meant to be perfect and neither are humans. This belief is also incorporated in his theory of the grotesque, one closely associated

the very common family trip to an unforeseen tragedy, which can ascribe to the power of Gothic literature. Southern Grotesque, a subgenera of Southern Gothic, “cuts through the veil of civility, though decorum and oppressive normative fabrications to expose a harsh, confusing reality of contradiction, violence, and aberrations”(Bjerre). With these aspects, the genre of Southern Grotesque shows the social issues and human natures in story through ordinary people’s life. In the story A Good Man is Hard

Brittany Luckey Mr. Clements American Literature 21 March 2013 Grotesque Characters What is a grotesque character? In literature, a character or location that is irregular, extravagant or fantastic in form. When used as a device, the purpose is often in the style of expressionism, making the grotesque a parody of human qualities or a distorted reflection of a familiar place. In many ways grotesque characters have some kind of problem in society, and example would be a veteran who lost a limb

How and why is the Grotesque Used in Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire? Throughout this semester, we were introduced to varying degrees of literary styles and themes. From the epiphanies discovered through American Realism, to the skepticism explored through Literary Modernism, to the conflicts of social conformity and individualism approached by a Post-Modernistic America and its writers. We have had the great opportunity of being exposed to individuals who questioned and pushed

"The representation of the grotesque is a characteristic of much 20th century writing" (Holman 61). Almost all of O 'Connor 's short stories usually end in horrendous, freak fatalities or, at the very least, a character 's emotional devastation. People have categorized O 'Connor 's work as "Southern Gothic" (Walters 30). In Many of her short stories, A Good Man Is Hard To Find for example, Flannery O 'Connor creates grotesque characters to illustrate the evil in people. Written in 1953, A Good Man