Some Aspects Of The Grotesque In Southern Fiction

Numerous authors and their stories are distinctive, but few authors compare to Flannery O'Connor. What sets O'Connor apart from other authors is her use of religion and violence. A majority, possibly all, of O'Connor’s stories contain some element of religion and/or violence. Not only is O'Connor’s stories unusual, but her characters are also unlike other author’s characters. Flannery O'Connor's unique stories contain characters that have an "evil intelligence determined on its own supremacy" that are often central to the conflict of the story.

To the casual reader, the writing of Flannery O'Connor can seem cold and void of emotion. Her storylines are like a misty fog in the dead of winter, enveloping the reader with a harsh even violent atmosphere. Her short stories regularly end in traumatic, freak deaths or, at the very least, a character's emotional destruction. An analysis of “Greenleaf,” “Everything that Rises Must Converge,” or “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” will leave the reader feeling empty. The imagination of the reader is not engaged on any level. There is an under current of anti-religion which is intensified by cruelty. O’Connor’s writing is filled with symbolism which is camouflaged by her writing style. Although her writing style is not considered by experts as

Generally when a person writes a story, they use past experiences and adventures in their life to help create a plot for their stories. Usually these events create a base for which the author writes upon thus contributing to the author’s exceptional way of thinking. For example, author Terry Teachout says that “O'Connor's religious beliefs were central to her art” (Teachout 56). O’Connor’s religion played a crucial role in her writings. Flannery O'Connor is regarded one of the major brief tale authors in United States literary performs. Among the thing that makes her work stand out to date is the boldness in her writing in style which she made no effort to hide her affiliation to the Roman Catholic faith and spared no wrath when

“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.

Flannery O’ Connor was a woman whose literary merit compares to no other. O’ Connor passing away before her 40th birthday is nothing short of a tragedy. She was a woman of conviction in a profane world. “I believe too that there is only one Reality and that that is the end of it, but the term, “Christian Realism,” has become necessary for me, perhaps in a purely academic way, because I find myself in a world where everybody has his compartment, puts you in yours, shuts the door and departs. One of the awful things about writing when you are a Christian is that for you the ultimate reality is the Incarnation, the present reality is the Incarnation, and nobody

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.

Flannery O’Connor was a southern belle born in Savannah, Georgia in 1925. She was a Catholic girl living in the Bible belt of the country. She lived in “two different worlds” (Meyer, 421); the fictional world that she created for her stories and her personal life. In her stories, she used exciting characters so that she could live through them and live an “interesting” life. She uses her stories to portray totally unanticipated, but totally plausible things. “O’Connor’s stories present complex experiences that cannot be tidily summarized; it takes the entire story to suggest the meanings” (Meyer, 426). She uses her characters to show irony, private experiences, fears, and diverse parallels into her story “Good Country People”.

To many critics, Flannery O’Connor was a“very devout catholic, [of the] (thirteenth century, [O’Connor described] herself),” suggests Mark Bosco a Jesuit priest, professor of Theology and English studies at Loyola University Chicago (qtd in Bosco 41). Along with being a native Georgian, O’Connor experienced life, albeit short lived, during an era of racial conflict. Although, she considered herself from another century, she was acutely aware of her twentieth century southern world, and furthermore she expressed it through her short stories. As Robert Drake a writer and Prof. at the University of Texas explains “[she wrote of what she] knew [to be] at her own doorstep” (Drake, “Apocalyptic Perception” 32), meaning that her strong religious

The selected short stories from Flannery O’Connor: The Complete Stories and Stories of the Modern South invite many types of criticism all of which require close reading which is essential for student learning. Combining stories selected from these two books with Reader Response criticism is an excellent way to introduce students to the art of literary criticism. Reader Response criticism provides students with the opportunity to combine reading for pleasure and reading with a purpose and the short stories written by William Faulkner, Caroline Gibson, Carson McCullers, and Eudora Welty contain themes of the gothic and grotesque which grab the reader and hold them spellbound until the end of the story, but somehow leave them wanting more.

One key component to making a story thought provoking and leave a lasting impression on the reader is efficient use of rhetorical devices. Flannery O’Connor implements symbolism, irony, metaphors, and strong imagery to supplement her plots with a message that isn’t found on the surface but requires the reader to divulge and explore all the possibilities of representation in her text. Whether illustrating a stormy backdrop as a metaphor for turmoil or three bullet shots as a final offering of atonement, O’Connor depicts a road to salvation through the unlikeliest of representations. This trend becomes apparent as one can identify the path to penance made by the protagonist in such stories as “A Good Man Is Hard To Find”, “The Life You Save

To the uninitiated, the significance of Flannery O 'Connor 's Parker 's Back can seem at once cold and dispassionate, as well as almost absurdly stark and violent. Her short stories routinely end in horrendous, freak fatalities or, at the very least, a character 's emotional devastation. Flannery O 'Connor is a Christian writer, and her work is message-oriented, yet she is far too brilliant a stylist to tip her hand; like all good writers, crass didacticism is abhorrent to her. Unlike some more cryptic writers, O 'Connor was happy to discuss the conceptual and philosophical underpinnings of her stories, and this candor is a godsend for the researcher that seeks to know what makes the writer tick.

Flannery O’Connor’s theory of Christ-haunted people of the South “By and large, people in the South still conceive of humanity in theological terms. While the South is hardly Christ-centered, it is most certainly Christ-haunted”, - is one of the most mentioned quotes of Flannery O’Connor. The southern literary icon, who was a Catholic, did not create a positive image of people’s stance on religion in spite of her own faith. O’Connor could finish her stories in more positive way to write a more Catholic-like literature. However her mix of grotesque Southern scenes and Christianity created more “timeless, and more impactful than the fluffy, always happy-ending Catholic novel” (Usher).

Flannery O’Connor said herself, “There won’t be any biographies of me because, for only one reason, lives spent between the house and the chicken yard do not make exciting copy” (Pg.351). She sees her actual life as bland and uninteresting, but her books are written with a whole different and exciting perspective in a whole new world. For example, “ The world she created in her stories is populated with bratty children, malcontent, incompetents, pious frauds, bewildered intellectuals, deformed cynics, rednecks, hucksters, racists, prevents, and murderers”(Pg. 351). The world that is pictured in her books often shock and surprise the readers. Her books are a dark version of the world, full of surprises, crimes, and

“The writer operates at a peculiar crossroads where time and place and eternity somehow meet. His problem is to find that location” (BrainyQuote, NP). At an early age, it was clear that Flannery O’ Connor would be a writer considering her interest in writing and designing for stories she wrote. She was one of the most extraordinary writers of her time with strong morals, which were used in her writings, especially when it came to her beliefs in religion and the area she lived in.

Many had their own opinions of O 'Connor 's work. "The literary works of Flannery O 'Connor often contend that religious belief can only be consummated by direct confrontation with evil and for those uncommitted and unprepared, tragedy seems inevitable." (Cook Online). Many of the early critics never realized that O 'Connor 's worked with revelation, which at the time, others did not (Reagan Online). As Frederick Asals once said, "Conflict, often violent conflict, is the very center of Flannery O 'Connor 's fiction"(93). Although O 'Connor 's work was awarded greatly, it was also often "dismissed" because of its "Gothic Violence" (Reagan Online). I have to agree with Dorothy Walters when she says, "...nothing is more striking than her remarkable capacity to blend the comic and the serious in a single view of reality." (13).