Max deGroot Mr.

Autry AC English II 15 May 2011

deGroot 1

Flannery OConnors Shocking Style Flannery OConnor, a noted Southern Gothic writer from Savannah, Georgia, is best known for her often bizarre short stories. However, she also wrote two novels. These two novels, Wise Blood and The Violent Bear it Away, reflect her strong Catholic beliefs and evoke great emotional responses from readers. OConnors unorthodox methods of writing about Christian themes with horrific events affirm her classification as a Southern Gothic writer. My own philosophy of composition, which I will use to dissect OConnors two novels, contains three elements that appear all over OConnors novels: satire, symbolism, and the use of simple vocabulary and sentences. The use of satire in a novel is an excellent way to establish a connection with the reader and to open up the readers mind to issues in society. The use of symbolism, on the other hand, requires the reader to seek a deeper meaning beyond the text, which ultimately makes the reader think. Finally, according to my philosophy, the use of simple vocabulary is necessary because one should never need a dictionary, or other reference book, in order to learn from and enjoy a fictional novel. Flannery OConnor puts a unique spin on the Southern Gothic style of writing by integrating into each of her novels three of my favorite elements of literature--satire, symbolism, and the use of simple vocabulary while she describes appalling scenes--in order to ultimately shed light on spiritual and moral issues people face in modern society.

deGroot 2 Flannery OConnor effectively writes from a satirical perspective to enlighten readers about the problems with taking God and religion too lightly in ones life today. For example, in Wise Blood Sabbath Lily Hawks, the girlfriend of the protagonist, describes a time when she wrote to an expert. OConnor writes, I am a bastard and a bastard shall not enter the kingdom of heaven as we all know, but I have this personality that makes boys follow me. Do you think I should neck or not? I shall not enter the kingdom of heaven anyway so I dont see what difference it makes. Then she answered my letter [and said]Dear Sabbath, light necking is acceptable, but I think your real problem is one of adjustment to the modern world. Perhaps you ought to re- examine your religious values to meet your needs in Life. A religious experience can be a beautiful addition to living if you put it in the proper [perspective] and do not let it [warp] you. (117). In this passage, OConnor pokes fun at the modern-day young women who are lost and dont know what to do, so they turn to sex and other unhealthy behaviors to satisfy themselves. OConnor also satirizes the expert woman who represents the cafeteria Catholics in todays society who do not take religion seriously, so they take the easy way out and simply live around the commandments and teachings they find hard to follow. Instead of centering their lives on God, they toss around His commandments as if they are not necessary to salvation. Moreover, the girls name is Sabbath, the holy day in Christs time, which adds to the ridiculousness of the conversation in the passage. OConnor displays a similar example of satire in Wise Blood when she writes about a false preacher named Onnie Jay Holy. He preaches just for the money and says that he was once a radio preacher. Onnie Jay Holy talks about the benefits of his new church, the Holy Church of Christ without Christ, when he says, You can sit at home and [interpret] your own Bible however you feel in your heart it ought to be [interpreted] This Church is up to date! When youre in this church you can know that theres

deGroot 3 nothing or nobody ahead of youall the cards are on the table, friends, and thats a fack! (153). In this example, OConnor pokes fun at false preachers in modern society. Through Onnie Jay Holy, she lays out the idea that money and blasphemy rule supreme over truth and Christ, and again his name makes the event even more satirical. His misnomer last name, Holy is clearly not a characteristic that the preacher himself demonstrates. She provides a clear example of someone who focuses on material wealth to such an extent that he or she cannot see the truth and importance of religion. Ultimately, Flannery OConnor uses satire very effectively to teach readers a lesson about the problems with religious phonies in modern society. Furthermore, in her other novel, The Violent Bear it Away OConnor writes with the same trademark satirizing voice. I believe her strong ability to show right from wrong using her satirical voice is chiefly important in her portrayal of her characters and her ability to connect them with modern society. The reader sees connections between the characters that she satirizes and the people he or she encounters each day, which gives the reader a good laugh and makes The Violent Bear it Away easily understandable and enjoyable. Throughout this novel, the author pokes fun at the atheistic mindset of Rayber, Tarwaters uncle, who not only despises but also fears Christian conversion. One example of this occurs when OConnor writes about a young Christian missionary who speaks about conversion to the faith. Rayber follows Tarwater to this place because he thinks Tarwater is running away. When they arrive at the place, Tarwater goes in to listen while his uncle remains outside, spying from a window. The young missionary girl says, Listen you peopleI see a damned soul before my eye! I see a dead man Jesus hasnt raised. His head is in the window but his ear is deaf to the Holy Word. Be saved in the Lords fire or perish in your own! (134). When Tarwaters uncle hears this, OConnor writes, Raybers head[,] as if it had been struck by an invisible bolt, dropped from the ledge. He was

deGroot 4 groping fiercely about him, slapping at his coat pockets, his head, his chest, not able to find the switch that would cut off the voice. Then his hand touched the button and he snapped it. A silent dark relief enclosed him like shelter after a tormenting wind (134-35). In this passage, OConnor gives the reader a sense of Raybers weakness: his inability to surrender himself to Gods call. This satirical example specifically pokes fun at those who do not succumb to the call of God because they know they live sinful lives and want to keep the same materialistic lifestyle. Her satire extends to those who ignore the call to priesthood because they are not man enough to accept celibacy and financial poverty. In addition, OConnor writes, Rayber watched curiously for a few moments At last, something he wants, he thought, and [he] determined that tomorrow he would return and buy it The place was only a bakery. He stared, puzzled, at the empty window for a second before he started after the boy again. Everything a false alarm, he thought with disgust. If he had eaten his dinner he wouldnt be hungry (122). As stated in the paragraph about the symbol of hunger and bread, there was a single loaf of bread in the bakery, and the thing that Tarwater is really hungry for is the bread of life. However, OConnor satirizes the uncle by showing that his first idea is that he can buy Tarwater the thing that he wants, and since OConnor makes this symbol obvious to the reader, the uncle looks blind and foolish. She pokes fun at the people with materialistic minds who believe they can buy happiness. In my philosophy of composition I appreciate symbolic fictional novels that shed light on more spiritual topics. Ideally, a reader can grow from his or her experience of reading a novel, and Flannery OConnors symbolic style, which she pairs with her spiritual themes, allows for just that. She uses religious symbolism to create thought provoking novels that from which one can learn about the Christian faith and how to live his or her spiritual life. In Wise Blood OConnor writes about a man named Haze Motes as he tries to forget his past and avoid Christ,

deGroot 5 the very thing that he clings to. In the beginning of the novel, OConnor writes, The only things he took into the army with him were a black Bible and a pair of silver-rimmed spectacles that had belonged to his mother. The Bible was the only book he read. He meant to tell anyone in the army who invited him to sin that he was going to be a preacher of the gospel and that he wasnt going to have his soul damned by the government or by any foreign place it sent him to. (17). This passage shows Hazes acceptance of Christ and the Christian faith before he went off to war. However, when he returns, his perception of religion and Christianity is quite different. OConnor depicts this in his arrival at Taulkinham, the city where the majority of the story takes place. When he arrives, he goes to a restroom and finds the address of a prostitute scratched on the wall. He decides to go to her, and on his way there the taxi driver says, You look like a preacher. (27). Haze then responds, Im not a preacher I dont believe in anything (28). This example shows his new state of mind. Throughout the rest of the novel, he denounces Christs existence and the truth within the Bible, and he even starts his own church: The Church Without Christ. Later in the novel, OConnor uses Hazes mothers glasses as a symbol of Hazes past. Haze says, [Im going] [t]o some other cityto preach the truth. The Church of Christ Without Christ (189). After Haze says this, OConnor writes, [H]e pulled off the glasses and threw them out the door (189). The glasses symbolize his past of wanting to preach the gospel, so he throws it away to go out and preach his new beliefs in the Church Without Christ. Another example of OConnors symbolic writing style emerges when she writes about Asa Hawks, the father of the illegitimate Sabbath Lily Hawks and a supposedly blind preacher. OConnor writes The blind man didnt pay any attention to him. He kept on rattling the [money] cup and the child kept on handing out the pamphlets (36- 37). This example leads the

deGroot 6 reader into thinking he is a poor blind man. However, later OConnor reveals that hes a phony when she writes, The eye he put to the hole was slightly rounder and smaller than his other one, but it was obvious he could see out of both of them (105). This statement reveals hes a phony preacher who just steals the money of others. Moreover, he denounces Christ when he calls Haze a Goddam Jesus-hog (105). OConnor cleverly portrays his false physical blindness as a symbol for his spiritual blindness. Another symbol in OConnors Wise Blood is Hazes car. He feels that he has succeeded in living a life without Christ when he buys his car. Haze says, Nobody with a good car needs to be justified (109). This statement illustrates an example of materialism as he is over confident in his car. He cannot see Christ and lives a life of sin. Another example of symbolism occurs when Haze kills a man who looks exactly like him and who imitates him as a prophet. They look so much alike that a woman asks Haze, Him and you twins? (168). Haze wants to get rid of the man, which symbolically shows his desire to get rid of part of himself, another part of his past. Haze runs over the man twice and kills him after he makes the man take off the clothes that look exactly like his. OConnor writes, He began grabbing for his feet as if he would take off his shoes too, but before he could get at them, the Essex knocked him flat and ran over him. He backed it over the body and then stopped and got out. Haze gave him a hard slap on the back and he was quiet (206-07). This whole encounter represents Hazes struggle to throw away his past life with Christ. Towards the end of the novel, after a policeman kicks his car over a cliff and Haze realizes all that he has done wrong, Haze blinds himself with lime. This is ironic since the act of physically blinding himself symbolizes his gain of spiritual sight and realization. Moreover, the name Haze symbolizes his spiritual blindness throughout the novel to see the truth that Christ is the truth and that he did die for the sins of the world. Hazes

deGroot 7 landlady asks, What you going to do with that [lime] Mr. Motes? (212). To this, Haze responds that he will [b]lind [him]self (212). To show the symbolism, Haze says, If theres no bottom in your eyes, they hold more (226). By this example, OConnor affirms his conversion when she writes this because she aims to convey that if one cannot physically see, one can see more in a spiritual sense. After his car falls off the cliff and he blinds himself, Haze no longer obsesses over material wealth, which is obvious when the landlady finds four dollar bills and some change in his trash can (223). When she asks Haze why he put the money there, Haze replies, It was left overI didnt need it (224). Moreover, Haze punishes himself by lining his shoes with gravel and broken glass and pieces of small stone (225). When the landlady asks Haze why he fills his shoes with rocks, Haze says that he does it [t]o pay (226). Towards the beginning of the novel, Haze recalls a time when he is at the fair with his Dad, and he pays to see a naked woman in a tent. The next day, Haze does a similar act of putting rocks in his shoes to pay for his misconduct when OConnor writes, He filled the bottoms of them with stones and small rocks and thenwalked in them through the woods for what he knew to be a mile. He thought that ought to satisfy Him (59). When he repeats this act later in the book, he not only accepts his old self and beliefs that he rejected before, but he tries to satisfy Him: that is, God. This ultimately represents the Sacrament of Reconciliation and Gods mercy because at the end of the novel, the landlady looks into the dead Hazes eyes and sees him moving farther and farther away until he [is] the pin point of light (236). This pin point of light is symbolic of heaven, and it shows that Haze receives the gift of salvation because of Gods great mercy. In OConnors other novel, The Violent Bear it Away, she also uses symbolism to effectively portray Christian ideas. For instance, OConnor uses fire throughout the novel to symbolize purification and a calling to Christ. OConnor writes, The old man who said he was

deGroot 8 a prophet, had raised the boy to expect the Lords call himself and to be prepared for the day he would hear itfor he himself had been burned clean and burned clean again. He had learned by fire (5). This passage gives the reader a clear sense of OConnors symbol of fire since she connects it to a calling and a means of purification. OConnor also writes, He crawled under and began to set small fires, building one from anotherleaving the fire behind him eating greedily at the dry tinder and the floor boards of the house (50). This sample of the symbol arises when Tarwater, the main character, sets fire to his house and runs away since his greatuncle, his guardian and a prophet, has died. The rest of the story contains his spiritual journey on which he encounters a stranger, a voice inside his head, who symbolizes the devil. The stranger says, [T]here aint no such thing as a devil. I know that for a fact. It aint [a decision between] Jesus [and] the devil. Its Jesus or you (39). In this example, the stranger tempts Tarwater to only worry about satisfying himself. During a flashback, the great-uncle talks about Tarwater when he says, The prophet I will raise up out of this boy will burn your eyes clean (76). Again, OConnor uses fire and the action of burning to symbolize spiritual purification. Finally at the end of the novel, Tarwater returns home and lights the place on fire again, but this time OConnor inserts the symbol of fire to show that he has chosen Jesus over himself and the devil. First, the devil says, Go down and take it. Its ours. (237). Then OConnor writes, The boy shuddered convulsively. The presence was as pervasive as an odor, a warm sweet body of air encircling him, a violet shadow hanging around his shoulders [, and] [h]e shook himself free. (237). This shows the transformation the boy has undergone. Tarwater now sees the devil for who he is. Then he sets the woods on fire and OConnor writes, He knew that this was the fire that had encircled Daniel, that had raised Elijah from the earth, that had spoken

deGroot 9 to Moses and would in the instant speak to him (242). This example ultimately shows that Tarwater makes up his mind because the fire acts a symbol for a calling. In The Violent Bear it Away, OConnor also effectively uses bread and hunger to symbolize the need for the Bread of Life and that no other food will satisfy. Tarwaters spiritually blind uncle, with whom he stays, is secretly following him to a church when OConnor writes, Tarwaters face was strangely lit from the window he was standing before. It looked to him like the face of someone starving who sees a meal he cant reach laid out before him [Tarwater] hung there as if he could not take his eyes off what he wanted The window was empty except for a loaf of bread pushed to the side that must have been overlooked when the shelf was cleaned for the night (122). This example shows Tarwaters yearning for the only thing that can satisfy him: Christ, the Bread of Life. OConnor also writes, The first day in the city he had become conscious of the strangeness in his stomach, a peculiar hunger. The city food only weakened him. He and his great- uncle had eaten well (161). This passage demonstrates OConnors beautiful usage of the symbol of hunger. Tarwater hungers for Christ since he feels that He has been absent in his life ever since his great- uncle passed away. When he returns to his old home at the end of the novel, OConnor writes, As he looked, his hunger constricted him anew. It appeared to be outside him, surrounding him, almost as if it were visible before him, something he could reach out for and not quite touch. He sensed a strangeness about the place as if there might already be an occupant (238-39). Tarwaters hunger becomes so great because he feels that what he needs is right there with him. OConnor wonderfully depicts Tarwaters feeling that Christ is in his presence, the person hes been yearning for, who awaits Tarwaters return. Finally, OConnor writes, He felt his hunger no longer as a pain but as a tide. He felt it rising in himself through the time and darkness, rising through the centuries, and he knew that it

deGroot 10 rose in a line of men whose lives were chosen to sustain it. It seemed in one instant to lift and turn him (242). This is OConnor last depiction of the symbolic hunger in The Violent Bear it Away, and by showing that Tarwater must sustain the hunger, she sends a message to all in our modern society that we will never be fully satisfied on earth until we achieve eternal salvation with God in heaven. OConnor shows everyone that we are to always strive to satisfy our hunger by following Christ in our lives. Another element of my philosophy of composition is that the literary work should evoke emotion from the reader, and OConnors use of simple language while she describes gruesome and horrific scenes is a truly remarkable way of stimulating intense feelings. Ralph Wood discusses this unique talent of hers in his book, Flannery OConnor and the Christ- Haunted South, when he writes, The wintry plainness of her prose, its dry and tart matter-of-factness, its spare straightforwardness none of these traits allow any lazy luxuriation in narrative eloquence. Even continued rereading of OConnors fiction prompt fear and trembling, not only in the foreknowledge that someone will get gored or blinded or shot, but also in the dread that we ourselves will be eviscerated (159). Although she writes with simplistic vocabulary and syntax throughout her two novels, it is most effective when she puts this style to use in her more gothic descriptions. For example, in Wise Blood OConnor provides a horrific vision of Haze running over a man with his car. As previously quoted, she plainly writes that Haze runs him over and then backs the car over him. Moreover, OConnor writes, A lot of blood was coming out of him and forming a puddle around his head He leaned down to hear if he was going to say anything else but he wasnt breathing anymore (206-07). The simplicity of her words and her style as she plainly describes his death makes the whole occurrence completely shocking and painful to the reader. .

deGroot 11 In The Violent Bear it Away, her simplistic writing style ensures that the reader will not have to wrestle with the detail of her word choice, but rather it provides the opportunity for the reader to realize and focus on the horrific nature of the scene she describes. For instance, OConnor writes, The quiet was broken by an unmistakable bellow. The bellow stopped and came again, then it began steadily, swelling He clenched his teeth [then] [t]he beady night noises closed in again (202). In this example, OConnor portrays Tarwater drowning Bishop, his younger, mentally handicapped cousin. She uses straightforward sentences and simple vocabulary to describe this ghastly scene, so the reader recognizes what is happening and ultimately feels appalled and disheartened at the same time. Flannery OConnor shocks the reader once more in The Violent Bear it Away when she writes, In about an hour, the stranger emerged alone and looked furtively about him. His delicate skin had acquired a faint pink tint as if he had refreshed himself on blood. He got quickly into his car and sped away. When Tarwater woke up he saw first his thin white legs stretching in front of him. His hands were loosely tied with a lavender handkerchief which his friend had thought of as an exchange for his hat. His clothes were neatly piled by his side. Only his shoes were on him (231-32). This passage only contains simple words, which allows the reader to easily follow along. Furthermore, the horrific picture provides the reader with a disgusting feeling and surely catches the attention of each individual in her audience. The three elements of my philosophy of composition that are relevant to OConnors works appear from beginning to end in each of her novels. OConnors Christian beliefs shine through in these books as she satirizes phony Christians and describes the seriousness of the moral struggles that Christians must overcome in order to prevail on the spiritual journey to salvation. While her novels may seem dark and horrific, the main character always returns to

deGroot 12 Christ. OConnors unique ability to use satire, symbols, and simple diction teaches moral lessons to the reader, evokes emotion from the reader, and fully engages the readers mind. OConnors one-of-a-kind style draws emotional responses and leaves lasting positive effects on a readers mind and soul.

deGroot 13 Works Cited O'Connor, Flannery. The Violent Bear It Away. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007. Print. O'Connor, Flannery. Wise Blood. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007. Print. Wood, Ralph C. Flannery O'Connor and the Christ-haunted South. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub., 2005. Print.