Flannery+O'Connor's+short+stories


 * Flannery O'Connor's life... and how I think it affected her writing

Flannery O'Connor seems to have led a life that isn't necessarily the fanciful life one might imagine a famous writer to lead. Rather, it strikes as more of a common, short-lived one of a talented individual. She went through the conventional education processes and systems and through her connections and opportunities, was sometimes acknowledged of her talent, yet at other times, found others coming short of understanding her work. It has to have been the high level of distinctness in her character and writing that really made her stand out albeit instances when she was barely recognized for them. Some major factors in the distinctiveness of her work are her Southern backgrounds and Catholic religion: the setting of her stories is mostly in the South, and the theme of her stories touch on the concept of God quite often in her works, fittingly for having lived in a "Christian-haunted" time. There is also a genetically inherited illness that plagues her, not only in ending her middle-aged life but also in taking her father away when she was only a teenager. I’ve always thought this sort of tragedy involving a disease to be a trite occurrence in famous writers. In a way, that could’ve affected her style of writing, especially the dark satirical aspect and the tendency to implement cruelty at times. Such illness is actually a very philosophical aspect of life itself, and by constantly being aware of it, it seems to me that her work would provide much more insight—even more so than her amazing writing ability alone does. Such personal conditions of the author could be accountable for the gothic, grotesque aspects of her works.


 * How do the short story elements of "A Good Man is Hard to Find" work together to create meaning and develop theme?

Characterization plays a major role in any short story, and even especially so in "A Good Man is Hard to Find." There are two main characters that have a very influential touch on the theme: the Grandmother and the Misfit. As a dynamic character, the Grandmother undergoes a complete change in character in the last moment of her life, where a realization hits her and she shows compassion for the first-- and last-- time. Up until that, her characterization shows the distasteful sides of humanity; they are characteristics everyone might have as sinners we all are, but which through the extremity the Grandmother portrays is quite striking to the readers. Selfishness is the main one, conveyed by the Grandmother's determination to do what she wants to as well as her manipulation of others to achieve it. She is also quite conceited, as is shown through her consistent jabbering on about her old days while holding a condescending attitude towards others who are different from her in their thoughts and ways (Bailey, her son's, generation, and her grandchildren's, as opposed to her own). Meanwhile, the Misfit is more of a complex character, although one that doesn't undergo such change. He holds a very dark view of life, which can be picked up by his talk with the Grandmother; but one, as a reader, soon comes to the realization that he isn't merely a psychopathic maniac one might expect of a murderer. In fact, it turns out that he has even gone through quite a bit of rational thinking about God and religion. He also shows well-mannered, gentle-manly sides of his personality in a few instances during his interactions with the family. However, the plain fact that they are his target of crime makes such action all the more ironic. Another flip side of the Misfit's personality is his vulnerability that is hinted a few times in the scene before and after the shooting of the Grandmother. The way he kills her is remarkable in that it happens in an instant, rather unprecedented, more or less as a reflex in response to what the Grandmother was doing to him, which was the only sincerely nice thing the reader has ever seen her do. After her breakthrough moment of realization that the Misfit is not a heartless monster but behind all the cruelty is merely one of them, indeed, she turns accepting of him. This makes him automatically flinch, leaving readers wondering what it is that was so frightening to him about encountering the compassionate side of humanity. By the bits of vulnerability shown of him in that particular seen, it can be implied that for such a character like the Misfit who shows merciless cold-heartedness, the opposite of his personalities must be what he feels like he has to keep himself away from. In the way, O'Connor might be conveying that everyday people, who might be described as "normal," are afraid of murders and people who do terrifying things, as vice versa, "normal" humane emotions in turn might be frightening for terrorists.


 * How is the author’s intention revealed through the literary elements and style used in “The Life You Save Might Be Your Own”?

The car is an important symbol in “The Life You Save May Be Your Own.” It’s the whole purpose that had driven Mr. Shiftlet go to the Carters’ place to begin with; from the onset of the story, he shows palpable interest in it. From the old lady’s perspective, the car symbolizes her dead husband, which becomes evident when she tells of how it stopped working when her husband died. In a way, it also represents hope and love for the Carter family, as well. However, the relationship between the car and Mr. Shiftlet symbolizes yet another concept. As the entire course of this short story is of Mr. Shiftlet acquiring the car, beginning from him visiting strangers who have it and ending in him driving away with it, this scenario can be alluded to the humans’ quest for happiness in the course of one’s lifetime. The form of happiness differs for everyone, but in Mr. Shiftlet’s case, he is representing humanity thwarted from the real happiness; therefore, the car is not what is supposed to be the truly sincere purpose in life, but is merely what some blindly chase after, often times at an infelicitous cost. The cost he had paid was leaving Lucynell, a helpless girl, at a random gas station and throwing away the trust Mrs. Carter had in him to take care of her daughter. This is just like humans who often have values in life misplaced, and have mixed up priorities because they think so highly of earthly achievements and think it must be those they should strive for all their lives. However, when they have reached such points at one point or another in life, one comes to the realization that they aren’t happy like they had thought they would end up being. Instead, just like what can be glimpsed from the short while of Mr. Shiftlet’s emotions wavering for an instance, they feel rather empty. Clearly, it was wrong of Mr. Shiftlet to abandon the girl, along with his chance of possibly becoming a better person, and this is the type of mistake humans often make in life without even realizing it, because after all, everybody is naturally a sinner. There are other minor symbols and metaphors throughout the story, a lot of which contain Biblical references. Often times, there is a connection of the imagery of Jesus to Mr. Shiftlet and/or his actions is made several times throughout. Such instances include when he stands looking away from the Carters’ house on the first day he meets them, and this image of him looking at the sunset is described as “a crooked cross.” Cross is the most direct symbol of Jesus. Also, the description of his his solemn expression that suggests he might have raised the dead when driving the fixed car for the first time reminds that of Jesus. Two females are also described to look like “an angel of Gawd,” and this exact phrase is used twice in the story-- when the boy at the gas station sees Lucynell, and when Mr. Shiftlet reminisces of his mother. To look like an angel of God is not a common way to describe someone, and so this creates an indirect connection between Mr. Shiftlet’s mother and Lucynell. In a way, this connection outlines a common trait in these two completely unrelated characters as they both had been left by Mr. Shiftlet. Lastly, another important symbol is the highway sign reading “The Life You Save May Be Your Own,” the significance of which is established by the fact that this is the title of the story, despite it only having that one single appearance in the story. Mr. Shiftlet passed by this sign right after having left Lucynell at the gas station and right before picking the random boy up. In both his previous and upcoming encounters, he is more or less in a position where he is given the opportunity to rescue others. However, he has already thrown away one of them, and so when the sign he passes by at that moment reads that the life he saves might be his own, this is a foreshadowing of the next chance he will get-- the chance to redeem himself after what he has done to Lucynell.


 * How does "Good Country People" reveal Truth about God, faith, and the human experience?

Flannery O'Connor touches on several aspects, which include the humans' hypocrisy, and our vulnerable liability to fall in the hands of Satan, of religion in her short story "Good Country People." How hypocritical one can be is represented by Mrs. Hopewell and Manley Pointer. Mrs. Hopewell has a thing for "good country people," yet the good girls she is so fond of (Mrs. Freeman's daughters) seem to have questionable morales, considering one of them had been pregnant before she married her husband. While she also claims herself a Christian, her Bible is put away in the attic, and her actions are far from representing God; this is mainly shown in her attitude towards her own daughter of whom she is very ignorant of and doesn't ever accept. Manley's profession is a Bible seller, and was regarded by Mrs. Hopewell (and Hulga) as a very honest man. The fact that he is not only a non-believer but also turns out to be a cunning deceiver who steals people's body parts by taking advantage of them is very ironic in its contrast to his external occupation. Moreover, that the Bibles in his suitcase he brought along when meeting Hulga actually is a disguise of a set of items that explicitly reveal him as committed to the three areas of sin (alcohol, deck of gambling cards with pornography included, and condoms). These are what actually represents who he is, as opposed to the Bibles that readers, as well as Hulga, had been led to believe to represent him till the end. Manley Pointer, therefore, is actually beyond being a mere hypocrite who pretends to be a good person he actually is not. He is actually the source of pure evil who takes literally everything from Hulga and rejects her at her most vulnerable state after he has acquired what he wanted by using her and her social inaptness-- a perfect fit for a Satanic symbol. Manley Pointer being the symbol of Satan, Hulga delineates humanity. All humans probably have identity problems, albeit not as exposed as that of Hulga's (physical deficiency, ugliness, no one to accept her, changing of names, not quite fitting in anywhere, educationally "smart" mind). A lot of Hulga's actions show struggles in humanity. However, the main event is her demolition from getting acquainted with Manley. Although she is smart enough to have acquired a Ph.D. and cannot be more educated than that, her actions toward Manley Pointer in believing him to be who he acts like and thinking she might seduce him make a complete fool of her. This not only shows the difference between knowledge and wisdom, but also illustrates how short humanity comes to being "good" or "perfect" and Godly in any way. Just like we are naturally born as sinners, there was nothing Hulga could have done better; she was raised that way, with not much societal interactions with others, and since that's the way her life had been, it wasn't like she could have done, or known, better in dealing with Manley Pointer. Perhaps the more remarkable aspect is that all while she was the subject of trickery who was being manipulated, she had been thinking she could be the one using Manley. She doesn't tell him her real age till almost the end of the story, because she didn't appear to be too old for him, and she seems to think of herself as playing along to the innocent country boy's affections for her. She is so sure in the situation and of everything Manley is deceitfully convincing her of that she lets herself be at her most vulnerable, even stripping herself of her indispensable fake leg. This situation between the two individuals outline the relationship between humanity and Satan. While Satan likes to spread sin and take advantage of humans, instead of reacting the way we're supposed to, we, being the fools we are, not only completely oblige but also do so while thinking that we're using everything for our own good, probably for personal gain. We're so sure of ourselves, that when we find ourselves ultimately stripped of everything and left betrayed by all that we had believed in, and alone to face the corrupt evilness of Satan, our world is bound to come crashing down upon us. Without God, this is inevitable; and the misery of the scenario-- the end of life without Him-- is much like that of the Hulga's situation in the closing scene of the story.