Are humans natural born sinners? Are we content with our self-indulging human nature? Flannery O’Connor shows us through her stories that the worst quality in a human is selfishness. Through grotesque characters, O’Connor demonstrates the common theme of selfish human nature to display the ability it has to ruin/drive people crazy and that people only look to religion when they are desperate.
One of her most famously known works would be the novel Wise Blood. The protagonist may be one of the most grotesque characters of them all. Hazel Motes is described as having “a nose like a shrike’s bill and a long vertical crease on either side of his mouth” and eyes with “settings so deep that they seemed to her, almost like passages leading somewhere”. The man is said to be in
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He is very rude and h as no respect nor patience for other’s opinions. Within the first pages, while speaking with nice old Mrs. Hitchcock, Hazel responds in very rude ways, “He looked at her sourly and gripped the black hat by the brim. ‘No I ain’t,’ he said in a sharp high nasal Tennessee voice”. This already gives an insight to the type of person he will be. After that encounter with Mrs. Hitchcock he demonstrates his overbearing nature when he practically harasses the porter on false pretenses. The porter himself is characterized to be very grotesque with a description saying “a thick figured man with a round yellow bald head” and “when he bent over, the back of his neck came out in three bulges”, this description gives the reader a hideous image of a giant gross fat man. Because Hazel is so overbearing it demonstrates his disregard for anybody’s feelings. He clearly doesn't see that he is upsetting the porter or that he is bothering him which demonstrates the selfish nature in Hazel because all he cares about is the Porter admitting he is from Eastrod even though he
Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of The House of Seven Gables, reveals Judge Pyncheon’s character in a strategic manner to show the shallowness in Judge Pyncheon’s good deeds. The author uses the position of details, diction, and tone to express his dislike for Judge Pyncheon’s character and also to reveal the judges character as two-fold, first good, then evil.
Human beings are odd creatures, possessing abilities no other living species have. These abilities being Intelligence, Reason, and Free Will. These attributes allow human beings to value and destroy whatever they deem necessary to them. One of the most valuable things to a human being is the communal bond. This bond comes in many shapes and forms and is ultimately a form of love, and is usually a connection we share with others and with God. The communal bond works like a relationship, in which the persons involved are expected to and obey the instructions specified. This bond is a weak love, one that is easily influenced and most likely to be corrupted and shattered. This is due to man’s inability to hate himself and assume responsibility for his actions. Instead man decides to blame his neighbor for his wrongs and this leads to man loathing his community. In his work, The Inferno, Dante Alighieri utilizes the placement of sinners in The Inferno in order to establish the idea of moral depravation being a result of breaking communal bonds.
Spivey, Ted R. "Flannery O'Connor's View of God and Man." Flannery O'Connor. Ed. Robert E. Reiter. St. Louis: B. Herder, 1966. 111-18.
She was a writer who suffered from Lupus. Her father died of the same illness when she was thirteen. Her Catholic beliefs reflected in her work, as well as the implementation of violence and darkness ironically used in her short stories. The titles in the stories give the readers an idea that the stories are the opposite of what the titles really state. She uses metaphors and similes to describe the characters and the settings of the stories. Each story relates to the darkness of the characters: people with racial prejudice, ignorance, and evil. Each story ends in a tragedy. The use of irony allows her to transport a meaning to each story that is not easy for readers to understand.
Flannery O’Connor believed in the power of religion to give new purpose to life. She saw the fall of the old world, felt the force and presence of God, and her allegorical fictions often portray characters who discover themselves transforming to the Catholic mind. Though her literature does not preach, she uses subtle, thematic undertones and it is apparent that as her characters struggle through violence and pain, divine grace is thrown at them. In her story “Revelation,” the protagonist, Mrs. Turpin, acts sanctimoniously, but ironically the virtue that gives her eminence is what brings about her downfall. Mrs. Turpin’s veneer of so called good behavior fails to fill the void that would bring her to heaven. Grace hits her with force and their illusions, causing a traumatic collapse exposing the emptiness of her philosophy. As Flannery O’Connor said, “In Good Fiction, certain of the details will tend to accumulate meaning from the action of the story itself, and when this happens they become symbolic in the way they work.” (487). The significance is not in the plot or the actual events, but rather the meaning is between the lines.
Shipley?s intimidating presence presents a plethora of problems for Grange Copeland and his family. Walker illustrates that the mere sight of Shipley strikes fear into the very soul of Grange, a feeling that his young son experiences as well, ?Brownfield was afraid of his father?s silence? his father?s face froze into an unnaturally bland mask, curious and unsettling to see?
The question “What makes us who we are?” has perplexed many scholars, scientists, and theorists over the years. This is a question that we still may have not found an answer to. There are theories that people are born “good”, “evil”, and as “blank slates”, but it is hard to prove any of these theories consistently. There have been countless cases of people who have grown up in “good” homes with loving parents, yet their destiny was to inflict destruction on others. On the other hand, there have been just as many cases of people who grew up on the streets without the guidance of a parental figure, but they chose to make a bad situation into a good one by growing up to do something worthwhile for mankind. For this reason, it is nearly impossible to determine what makes a human being choose the way he/she behaves. Mary Shelley (1797-1851) published a novel in 1818 to voice her opinions about determining personality and the consequences and repercussions of alienation. Shelley uses the ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau to make her point. Rousseau proposed the idea that man is essentially "good" in the beginning of life, but civilization and education can corrupt and warp a human mind and soul. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (hereafter referred to as Frankenstein), Victor Frankenstein’s creature with human characteristics shows us that people are born with loving, caring, and moral feelings, but the creature demonstrates how the influence of society can change one’s outlook of others and life itself by his reactions to adversity at “birth”, and his actions after being alienated and rejected by humans several times.
Within Tennessee Williams's story about love and abuse within marriage and challenging familial ties, there lie three very different characters that all see the world in vastly different ways. These members of a family that operate completely outside of our generation’s norms, are constantly unsure of themselves and their station within the binary not only of their familial unit, but within the gender binary that is established for them to follow. Throughout the story of the strange family, each character goes through a different arch that changes them irrevocably whether it is able to be perceived or not by those around them. The only male, Stanley is initially the macho force in the home who controls everything without question. He has no consequences for his actions against his wife and is never held accountable for treating the people around him poorly; this lasts until Blanche arrives. Blanche is an outwardly demure, but spirited young woman who after experiencing untold misfortune breaks mentally and decides to no longer care what others may think of her. She lives her life lavishly and foolishly by having dalliances with younger or richer men who shower her with gifts and attention to get sex from her all too willing form. Her effect on Stanley is one of temptation and challenge; she continually tries to convince her sister that she is too good for the man and in turn fosters a resentment for her in him. Stella acts as the antithesis of Stanley and Blanche’s extreme personalities. She is innocence and purity where they are the darkness that threatens to overtake her life. Throughout, Stella is a pawn that they both try to use against the other to no real avail as she is determined to make the best choice for herself. In th...
In conclusion , Flannery O'Connor's story focuses on the internal conflict between spirit and matter (Hendricks): “The world has become polarized between spirit and matter, or grace and nature...human values have become polarized as well” (O'Connor qtd. in Hendricks).
Humans are born sinful and are full of evil desires, like greed and selfishness. Individualism drives us apart and poisoned our mutual relationships” (Kuyper, Abraham, and James W. Skillen 25). Kuyper says that, “Every creature, our Confessions says so beautifully, must serve man, so that man may serve God” (Kuyper, Abraham, and James W. Skillen 23). Humans being are called to serve each other; in God’s commandments He says to love our neighbor as ourselves. Kuyper says, “…the cause of evil lay in this: that men regarded humanity as cut off from its eternal destiny, did not honor it as created in the image of God, and did not reckon with the majesty of the Lord” (Kuyper, Abraham, and James W. Skillen 26). Kuyper says that “Our society is losing touch with Christ…” and that is the main problem with society (Kuyper, Abraham, and James W. Skillen
Daisy's carelessness reveals her corruption as a human being. She uses her wealth and social status to escape whatever she chooses, like the death of Myrtle. Additionally, her actions demonstrate the dishonest exploitation of power for personal gain and attention. Daisy’s character, due to her money, inherently values her advantage over the lower class, revealing a nature of entitlement. Additionally, she gives no respect to anyone around her, sometimes n...
...ther serves to excite and stimulate our senses as we travel into the deranged mind of a killer ? offering us a unique perspective through the first person point of view. Similarly, the ending of ?Young Goodman Brown? offers a moral, but leaves the main character in a state of discord and callousness towards his wife, and his religion. The story is didactic, because the main character is punished for his transgressions. Symbolism, evident especially in Hawthorne?s allegory, and the repetition of Poe?s suspenseful tale serve to further the goals of each writer. Ultimately, Hawthorne?s Goodman Brown becomes isolated from humanity, an issue of the head and the heart, and Poe?s narrator withdraws inside himself, an issue purely of the mind. Recognizing this discord from the self and humanity is essential to understanding the behavior of these troublesome characters.
Myrtle’s ambition proves to be her fatal flaw in being the tragic hero. The goal of her ambition is to lead her to a higher social status. In pursuit of her ambition she expresses that her husband, George Wilson, serves as an obstacle since he is in the opposite direction of where she wishes to be. She expresses disgust in George for committing actions that are considered lowly by her standards. She was particularly unenthused with her husband after it is revealed that “he borrowed somebody’s best suit to get married” without telling her. (35) She expresses her marriage as regretful, which illustrates her ambition to strive for better, being Tom. Essentially it illustrates that she would rather be treated with little respect to achieve status, rather than to be treated with respect without status. Myrtle not only exudes her ambition through her pompous attitude, but also in the manner in which she carries herself. She is a young woman in her “middle thirties, and faintly stout, but (carries) her surplus flesh sensuously,” and although she is not attributed with beauty she is somewhat charismatic. (25) The way in which she carries herself may be considered sexual, and her persona is alluring for men such as Tom. Her seducing persona illustrates her ambition in being a temptress in order to move up the social ladder.
This persuasive essay will defend the opinion that humanity’s goodness is fleeting and fragile at best as depicted in Divergent (2011) by Veronica Roth. It is the opinion of this author that goodness is unsustainable by humanity as a whole. Four factors threatening mankind’s ability to maintain moral goodness are pride, power, and impatience. This paper will explore examples of each of these factors from Roth’s novel intertwined with other relevant media examples to defend the concept of mankind’s inability to sustain goodness. From an evaluation of humanity’s need for pride and power to a probe into impatience’s contribution in the destruction of morality this author will demonstrate the fragility of goodness among men. Let us now begin this exploration with the revelation of the importance of pride and power.
In viewing 12 Angry Men, we see face to face exactly what man really is capable of being. We see different views, different opinions of men such as altruism, egoism, good and evil. It is no doubt that human beings possess either one or any of these characteristics, which make them unique. It is safe to say that our actions, beliefs, and choices separate us from animals and non-livings. The 20th century English philosopher, Martin Hollis, once said, “Free will – the ability to make decisions about how to act – is what distinguishes people from non-human animals and machines 1”. He went to describe human beings as “self conscious, rational, creative. We can fall in love, write sonnets or plan for tomorrow. We are capable of faith, hope and charity, and for that matter, of envy, hated and malice. We know truth from error, right from wrong 2.” Human nature by definition is “Characteristics or qualities that make human beings different from anything else”. With this said, the topic of human nature has been around for a very long time, it is a complex subject with no right or wrong answer. An American rabbi, Samuel Umen, gave examples of contradictions of human nature in his book, Images of Man. “He is compassionate, generous, loving and forgiving, but also cruel, vengeful, selfish and vindictive 3”. Existentialism by definition is, “The belief that existence comes before essence, that is, that who you are is only determined by you yourself, and not merely an accident of birth”. A French philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre, is the most famous and influential 20th - century existentialist. He summed up human nature as “existence precedes essence”. In his book, Existentialism and Human Emotions, he explained what he meant by this. “It means that, first of all, man exists, turns up, appears on the scene, and, only afterwards, defines himself. If man, as the existentialist conceives him, is indefinable, it is because at first he is nothing. Only afterward will be something, and he himself will have made what he will be 4”. After watching 12 Angry Men, the prominent view on human nature that is best portrayed in the movie is that people are free to be whatever they want because as Sartre said, “people create themselves every moment of everyday according to the choices they make 5”.