Wise Blood, by Flannery O'Connor

Wise Blood, by Flannery O’Connor, is an fascinating yet disturbing novel. Wise Blood is a story of Hazel Motes, a twenty-two-year-old soldier who comes home from World War Two and gets trapped in a fight between faith and disbelief. He becomes captivated by a preacher named Asa Hawks and his bastard fifteen-year-old daughter, Lily Sabbath. In a way to prove how much of a pessimist Motes is, he founds The Church of God Without Christ, but is still frustrated that he is unable to lose his faith in a higher power. He later meets Enoch Emery, a young man who shows him a mummified “holy child”, and is greatly influenced by Hazel's struggles, later becoming Hazel’s companion in his endeavors. This story is about redemption, vengeance, greed, false prophets and wisdom. The book is such a riveting piece that there are many criticisms regarding it and its themes.

Jeffrey Lilburn wrote a literary criticism, “Faith and Religion in Wise Blood”, of Flannery O’Connor’s novel, Wise Blood, describing her writing as “violent, dark and grotesque, yet spiritual and religious.” When supporting his point that the book is grotesque and dark he refers to the incident when Haze, the main character, murders a man by running him over with his car. Additionally, Enoch, another main character beats and strips a man for personal gain. These two examples exemplify the outrageous amount of violence, gratuitous violence at that, yet he also makes the point that the author balanced the grotesque nature of the book with the spiritual nature, or the lack thereof.

Ben Satterfield wrote a literary criticism, “Wise Blood, Artistic Anemia, and the Hemorrhaging of O’Connor Criticism”, of Flannery O’Connor’s novel, Wise Blood, rejecting the popular belief that Wise Bl...

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... leaders. Over time, the religious and moral differences between Democrats and Republicans have influenced how certain people identify with each group. This has been seen over the past few years where abortion and gay marriage have become popular topics in politics and religion. Many people have argued that the idea of separation of church and state is not being satisfied.

With any topic there are bound to be opinions either supporting or rejecting ideas, but overall, religion is a benefit to society. As the research has shown, religion promotes respect and self-control in children, charity in adults, and peace, or lack of violence, in communities. When religious extremists take power and stir up conflicts, there are bound to be negative consequences. When religions and those that practice religions are respected, it can only benefit a society and help it develop.