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Our lives, our mood and mind as we pass across the earth, Turn as the days turn 1 Flannery OConnor is one of the greatest American writers who stands in the American Literature among the authors writing in the Southern Gothic tradition. Southern Gothic tradition unites the writers who reveal the decay of the American South, its traditions, its religious outlook and its people. Flannery Oconnor's impressions of growing up and living in the South and her life strongly influence her writing; the authors development, the path to the maturity is reflected in her literary works. Mary Flannery OConnor was born on twenty fifth of March in 1925 in Savannah, Georgia. In Savannah Flannery OConnor attended St.
Vincent's Grammar School and subsequently she attended Sacred Heart Parochial School. When Flannery OConnor turned twelve, her family moved to Milledgeville, Georgia. Flannery OConnor entered Georgia State College for Women and in 1946 she was accepted to the State University of Iowa. When she was thirteen, her father Edward F. OConnor died of chronic disease. The death of her father was a big shock for a young Flannery OConnor and till her last days it was difficult for her to talk about him.
Flannery OConnor was diagnosed with the same disease that took her father, lupus, in 1951 and she died on third of August in 1964 at the age of thirty nine. Flannery OConnor wrote two novels and numerous short stories. The illness and the apprehension of the same early death as her fathers greatly influenced the writing of Flannery OConnor, the sense of doom and belief in holy grace, the expectations of devastating resolution permeates her works. The Geranium (1946) is the first published work by Flannery O'Connor which she 1 Homer. Iliad.
Translated by Robert Files. (Viking Adult, 1990) wrote at the age of twenty one. The Geranium tells the story of the elderly countryman who spends his old years in the city, and finds his comfort only looking at the geranium on the neighbors windowsill. The Geranium determines the entry of Flannery O'Connor into adulthood and into the American Literature. The Geranium brought her great success and showed her as established and mature writer.
The Ina Dillard Russell Library in Milledgeville, Georgia, started the Flannery O'Connors Collection soon after the first publication of The Geranium. They collected newspaper clippings, magazines containing the first publications of stories, the published works, and some early items from O'Connor's student days at Peabody High School and Georgia State College for Women. All this forebode successful future for Flannery O'Connor, the illness would not become known five years more and O'Connor had all reasons to be happy. Moreover, Flannery O'Connor honestly wanted to write satire, but it became evident, that she was the best in writing the stories filled with quiet sadness and religious undertone. The short story The Geranium is full of sad passiveness of the person, who is lost in the big and unknown world, who knows his approaching end and finds the only heart companion in a flower. This context closely refers to Oconnor's childhood, which was full of sorrowful mourning of her father.
The loss of the deeply loved person and growing up in the respect to the Christian dogmatism influenced the childs consciousness. Flannery O'Connor refers to herself as pigeon-toed only child with a receding chin and a you-leave-me-alone-or-I'll-bite-you complex. (Fitzgerald, p. 22) Being the child who preferred staying on her own, she was constrained to herself for lonely contemplation of Death and God and it takes its toll on her personality. This influenced the writings of Flannery O'Connor, her stories are full of Christian mystery and most of her protagonists die at the end, or have incurable disease or otherwise invalid. Living in the American South which was still segregated has also influenced Oconnor's writings.
The Geranium raises the problem of segregation and the negative attitude to the African Americans, which was deep in the hearts of the Southern people. Flannery O'Connor was criticized by people for her ample use of offensive and intolerant words in her works. The Old Dudley from The Geranium is the representative of the Southern America, a person, who absorbed hate towards the African Americans with his mothers milk and he sees to teach his daughter the same attitude. You ain't been raised to live tight with riggers that think they " re just as good as you, and you think I'd go messin' around with one er that kind! If you think I want anything to do with them, you " re crazy. (O'Connor, p. 25) Old Dudley can not get used to the city, he is shocked by strange and dangerous city, and he is appalled by city life and neglects it. Geranium on the neighbors window gives him the feeling of something familiar and he grasps into this feeling.
The old life-long grudge towards African Americans is another thing which is understandable and familiar and Old Dudley can not overcome it. He is that proverbial old dog, which you can not teach new tricks. OConnor even gives the phonetic allusion to the Old Dog in the proverb calling the man Old Dudley. Flannery O'Connor shows how deep segregation lies in peoples minds, their inability to overcome it.
She shows that Old Dudley is so strong in his views, which they even act against him: he would not pick the geranium because he does not want to meet the African American, who hurt his feelings. Simultaneously with criticizing the South Flannery O'Connor mourns its imminent change: a damn nigger that patted him on the back and called him old-timer. Him that knew such as that couldn't be. Him that had come from a good place. A good place. A place where such as that couldn't be. (O'Connor, p. 28) Old Dudley is the part of the Old South which is disappearing, dying with the last people who remember what it was, and O'Connor loves her motherland despite its drawbacks.
The short story The Artificial Nigger (1955) continues the theme of segregation at the American South. This is a story of a country gentleman Mr. Head whose grandson questions his authority. Through the accidental abandonment of his own authority Mr.
Head proves his importance to grandson and proves to himself his own imperfection. Flannery O'Connor shows that in the childs eyes all people, black or white, are similar. Mr. Head shoes to his grandson Nelson a nigger, and asks if he knows what kind of a man is he. Nelson says that I it a fat man, and old man, but not a nigger.
Here the God himself speaks through the childs mouth and O'Connor argues that people are all equal in the sight of the God, as well as at the sight of the child. During the walk in the city Mr. Head denies his grandson, when Nelson accidentally knocks down a woman and is threatened by the police. Nelson is appalled by his grandfather: his mind had frozen around his grandfather's treachery as if he were trying to preserve it intact to present at the final judgment. (O'Connor, p. 258) The quarrel between the grandfather and the grandson and their subsequent reunion identify the Nelsons steps to maturity and adulthood, and therefore, the loss of his innocence. Nelson learns about betrayal, hatred and contempt. This is very symbolic, that simultaneously with forgiveness Nelson learns about rejection.
The mutual rejection of African Americans, Mr. Heads long lasting and Nelsons newly acquired, helps them to be brought back together. The artificial nigger is the symbol of artificial prejudices that possessed people of the times of Jim Crow Laws from 1890 s through 1950 s. During the 1950 's and 1960 's many writers reflected in their works the Civil Rights movement and the de jure desegregation of schools and other public facilities in America. In comparison to The Geranium the short story The Artificial Nigger not only judges the influence of prejudices on peoples lives, but also analyzes the formation of the personality and its outlook with prejudices. In The Artificial Nigger the Christian theme is also more unwrapped.
Mr. Head contemplates his act in regards of Gods judgment. He understood it was all a man could carry into death to give his Maker and he suddenly burned with shame chat he had so little of it to take with him He stood appalled, judging himself with the thoroughness of God. He realized that he was forgiven for sins from the beginning of time, when he had conceived in his own heart the sin of Adam, until the present, when he had denied poor Nelson. (O'Connor, p. 281) The theme of return to the Maker symbolizes the authors contemplation of the approaching death, because the story The Artificial Nigger was written 4 years after she was diagnosed with lupus. From now on the recurrent theme of her works is the action of grace in territory held largely by the devil. (Fitzgerald, p. 118) Devil here is the racial and class segregation, which prevents people from being good Christians: while the South is hardly Christ-centered, it is most certainly Christ-haunted. (Fitzgerald, p. 44) The author states that people of the American South denied their kin the right to be called people and through this they denied themselves the right to called Christians. The mystery of Christ eludes their souls and only haunts their heads.
In her stories Flannery O'Connor tried to bring peoples attention to the problems of Christianity and humanity, she wanted people to allow Christ in their hearts. People needed to be shown where their behavior could bring them and Flannery O'Connor undertook the task of showing it: To the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost-blind you draw large and startling figures. (Fitzgerald, p. 67) The short story Good Country People (1955) by Flannery O' Connor tells the story of a young highly educated woman Joy, who was compelled to live at the farm in the rural country in the company of her mother and hired helpers whom she deeply resented for being simple and uneducated. The meeting with the con artist taught her the lesson of real life and completely changed her judgment of people around. Joy gained personal experience through her own mistakes and she lost her mental innocence. Joy tried to find the way to proclaim her difference and decided to behave ugly and noisy, to dress ugly, to make ugly comments, and on top of it all to call herself an ugly name Huge. This attitude became her protest against her mother, Mrs.
Freeman and all other country people. Joy tried to make people notice her, recognize her difference, even if in ugly manner. The situation, in which Joy put herself, made her ignorant of life and people around her and she adopted her mothers views, who thought that all people in the country were naive and simple: good country people are the salt of the earth (O' Connor, p. 139) the world would be better off if we were all that simple (O' Connor, p. 147) When Joy met young salesman Manly Pointer, she assumed that she would easily rule him and seduce him with her educated mind: she imagined, that things came to such a pass that she very easily seduced him True genius can get an idea across even to an inferior mind. (O' Connor, p. 140) Joy imagined herself a scientist who observed the simple species crawling at her feet. The author not accidentally portrayed Manly Pointer as the seller of Bibles. Joy became very proud of herself, and the Bibles signified her imminent punishment for her pride.
Manly Pointer appeared not the good country people that Mrs. Hopewell and Joy imagined. Manly Pointer pretended to be the simple young countryman, but in reality he was a con artist who tricked Joy into giving him her artificial leg. Manly Pointer completely seduced Joy by proclaiming her special, which responded to her own perception of herself. At the end Manly Pointer appeared to be the biblical Serpent who stole Joys innocence and experience came crushing to her. Manly Pointer broke Joys shell and left her naked in the outer World.
Joy was different, but not in the way she thought. She was not superior to other people, but rather inferior, because her scholar knowledge gave her no power to resist people like Manly Pointer. Joy finally realized that good country people existed and they were not as simple, innocent and ignorant as Manly Pointer pretended to be, but as simple, difficult, gossiping, nosy, kind and supporting as Mrs. Hopewell and Mrs. Freeman were.
Flannery O' Connor in her story showed the importance of life experience and its advantages over scholastic knowledge. The author showed how the main character was assaulted with experience and her scale of values collapsed. The author highlighted, that no book would help the person to overcome the obstacles of life, but only personal experience and common sense. Flannery O' Connor resented self-complacency of scholars and showed that their knowledge did not give them experience and could not help them to survive.
Greenleaf (1956) is the latest among the four works by Flannery O'Connor represented here. This is the story of the widow Mrs. May who manages the farm and has two sons in mid thirties, who openly ignore her and her farm. She has hired helpers, the Greenleaf family, whom she simultaneously deeply resents because considers them trashy and envies because their sons are successful and supportive.
The stray bull, who belongs to the Greenleaf family, it is the cause of her conflicting them and her desire to kill the bull brings her to death. Greenleaf is the story telling about the social inequality which allows Mrs. May to neglect those whom she considers to be of the lower social status and disregards their inner grace. Mrs. May considers the Greenleaf family unworthy and even the success of the Greenleaf sons she views as injustice of the destiny. She was a good Christian woman with a large respect for religion, though she did not, of course, believe any of it was true. (OConnor, p. 31) This description determines the personality of Mrs.
May. She views Christianity as some tradition and does not takes seriously the Cods graces. She does not believe in Gods Providence and she does not seek it. She is certain that she control all aspects of life: Everything is against you the weather is against you and the dirt is against you and the help is against you.
They " re all in league against you. There's nothing for it but an iron hand! (O' Connor, p. 45) When Mr. Greenleaf says that all boys are not alike, Mrs. May says: I thank God for that!" (O' Connor, p. 53) but she does not mean real gratitude, it was just colloquial expression.
When Mr. Greenleaf answers "I thank Gawd for ever-thang, " she mocks him and says that it is natural, because he never does anything himself. Mrs. May denies the higher power; she believes that she is the only authority over her property, her children and her helpers. These views contrast Mrs. May to the Greenleaf family, who truly believe in God and Christian values.
Mrs. Greenleaf is not an educated woman, and the word of God is not in her mind, but in her heart. She does prayer healing and this is her way of praising the God. The author shows, that Mr. and Mrs. Greenleaf are blessed with good and successful children for their accepting of the God inside them, while Mrs.
May is punished with contempt and denial of her children. The death of Mrs. May on the horns of the stray bull who attacked her symbolizes the Gods wrath. This is "the extreme situation that best reveals what we are essentially" (Fitzgerald, p. 113). And the author claims, that all people are Gods children, who depend on his grace. When the bull attacked Mrs.
May she remained perfectly still, not in fright, but in a freezing unbelief. (OConnor, p. 72) The revelation that not everything depends on her, that not everything obeys her will is shocking, Mrs. May till the last moment denies it and her end is inevitable. When Mr. Greenleaf reached her, to be bent over whispering some last discovery into the animal's ear. (OConnor, p. 72) Mrs. May experienced the Gods dispensation and her death is the lessons to others who are wallowing in the sin of pride. It is notable how religious theme becomes stronger in Flannery O'Connor writing from one story to another.
Greenleaf was written in the last decade of Oconnor's life and the anticipation of her own death transformed into the contemplation of the divine redemption and salvation. The ending of this story is the most violent among all four and, the author becomes blunter in her judgment of peoples deeds. Flannery O'Connor reflects in her stories the life around her and the grace which she sees in the World. She insists that sometimes people require the severe examples in their learning of moral and Christian principles. Flannery O'Connor is a Catholic and she explains the events through the approach of the Christian moral. The life experiences and troubles find way into her stories.
Bibliography 1. Bacon, Jon Lance. Flannery O'Connor and Cold War Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993. 2. Bloom, Harold (editor). Modern Critical Views: Flannery O'Connor.
New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1986. 3. Fitzgerald, Robert and Fitzgerald, Sally (editors). Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1969. 4. Massey, D. and N.
Denton. (1988). "The Dimensions of Residential Segregation." Social Forces 67: 2 281 - 315 5. O'Connor, Flannery. Collected Works. New York: Library of America, 1988.
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