Hazel Mote's Spiritual Struggle

1348 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Analysis of Flannery O'Connor's writings

Flannery O’Connor once noted that all good stories are ones of conversion (Wood, 217), and Wise Blood is no exception. The central spiritual struggle of the book is that of the character Hazel Motes. The protagonist goes through not simply one but several conversions throughout the book. His spiritual quest is his realization of the Church Without Jesus, and his search for a new jesus. As analysis in this paper will elucidate, Hazel spiritual arc is a critique of approaches to knowing God. The first such method, nihilism, is a belief in nothing. This exists not only as a rejection of belief in an areligious sense, but is an active love of the concept of nothing itself. The second method comes in the debate of how one can come to know God, and whether or not one can accumulate concrete knowledge as a method of understanding the divine. O’Connor, as a Catholic, creates the window of an outsider to view the Protestant dominated South. From a Catholic perspective, Hazel Motes’s quest for an alternative approach to God is one which mirrors the alternative approach to God by the predominantly Protestant South. Hazel’s rejection of his paternal influences is not one which rejects religion or God, but instead is one which seeks his own path towards God based on his terms and conditions, and not His. Hazel’s spiritual trajectory is one which pursues a path of nihilism, to Gnosticism, to despair. His understanding of his own perception, especially sight, leads him to search for Jesus through both sight and non-sight, as he seeks a knowable, corporeal new jesus.

The reader is introduced to Hazel’s spiritual past early in the novel, through the description of his preacher grandfather. He was “a waspish old man who had ridden over three coun...

... middle of paper ...

...t to be distracted by abstract version of Christ, but instead wishes to find God through his own experience. He does not place faith in a Church With Christ, which commands redemption from on high. The Jesus of this church offers an abstract salvation that comes through the suffering of an unknowable God. Instead the redemption Hazel seeks that comes through a grotesque corporeal mutilation creating suffering in the self, so that one can spiritually move towards a knowable new jesus. In this sense, his grace and redemption come through his suffering. He has no eyes, but he sees, and he does not use his ears to listen to others, though he still hears.

Works Cited:

O’Conner, Flannery. Wise Blood. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1962. Print.

Wood, Ralph C. Flannery in the Christ Haunted South. Cambridge: Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2004. Print.

Show More
Related

  • Hazel Motes As A Grotesque Character In Flannery O Connor

    622 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • John Ames Relationship

    705 Words  | 2 Pages

    A deeply pious man, John considers the Bible a sublime source of moral code, guiding him through the challenges of his life. He proclaims to his kid son, for whom he has written this spiritual memoir, that the “Body of Christ, broken for you. Blood of Christ, shed for you” (81). While John manages to stay strong in the faith and nurture a healthy relationship with his son, his relationship with his own father did not follow the same blueprint. John’s father, also named John Ames, was a preacher and had a powerful effect on John’s upbringing. When John was a child, Father was a man of faith. He executed his role of spiritual advisor and father to John for most of his upbringing, but a shift in perspective disrupted that short-lived harmony. Father was always a man who longed for equanimity and peace. This longing was displayed in his dealings with his other son, Edward: the Prodigal son of their family unit, a man who fell away from faith while at school in Germany. John always felt that he “was the good son, so to speak, the one who never left his father's house” (238). Father always watched over John, examining for any sign of heterodoxy. He argued with John as if John were Edward, as if he were trying to get Edward back into the community. Eventually, John’s father's faith begins to falter. He reads the scholarly books

    Read More

  • Julian Of Norwich Concerning Liturgical Language Analysis

    2270 Words  | 5 Pages

    Her choices of metaphors are simplistic explanations providing the backdrop for the emotional and spiritual connection we seek in following Christ. The symbolic comparisons of Mary Magdalene, her relationship to Jesus, mirrors some of Julian of Norwich’s personal spiritual journey of prayerful contemplation while seeking intimacy in her relationship to God.

    Read More

  • A Brief Biography of Hazel Johnson Brown

    827 Words  | 2 Pages

    On October 10, 1927, Clarence L. Johnson Sr. & his wife Garnett Henley Johnson gave birth to yet another daughter by the name of Hazel Winifred Johnson in West Chester, Pennsylvania. After, her and her family moved to a Quaker town called Mavern. She was born into a family whose values were strictly discipline, diligence, unity, and pursuit of education. Between her and her other 6 siblings (2 sisters and 4 brothers), Hazel was the one out of them all who always dreamed of being a nurse. She went and applied for Chester School of Nursing, however, she was denied because she was an African American. After being denied to Chester’s School of Nursing, Johnson went on to further her education elsewhere by going to start training at the Harlem Hospital School of Nursing where she graduated in 1950. She then goes on to work in the Harlem Hospital Emergency Ward for 3 years and then practiced on the medical cardiovascular ward at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Philadelphia, all while working to get her baccalaureate at Villanova University. (Hazel Johnson-Brown: Visionary Videos: NVLP: African American History)

    Read More

  • Flannery O’Connor's "Revelation" and the Power of Religion

    1325 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Wise Blood Character Analysis

    818 Words  | 2 Pages

    Haze’s character is similar of many people who are raised in a religious household and feel as if God abandoned them. Additionally, the struggles that Haze encounters may relate back to modern society. Haze had one main goal throughout the majority of the story; he wanted to start up a Church without Christ, but he was unsuccessful for many reasons. The Essex, Haze’s beat up car, prevented him from doing many things in his life because it would constantly stall or stop working. The car is a symbol for the events that hold someone back from achieving their goals. Although, most people tend to blame obstacles for their lack of success, Haze believed his car would better him. The other characters in the story apply to many people as well. Haze met a “blind” preacher who supposedly blinded himself in the name of God. After finding out that the preacher lied about blinding himself, Haze became more frustrated with followers of a religion. The preacher was not strong enough in his faith to blind himself for it which angered Haze who felt that religion was seemingly unnecessary if it only revolved around blind followers. Some readers may be able to relate because they personally know blind followers of

    Read More

  • Wise Blood, by Flannery O’Connor

    904 Words  | 2 Pages

    Wise Blood showcases the flaws of organized religion as seen by the author, Flannery O’Connor, via the story of the anti-religious protagonist and representative of society, Hazel Motes, and his road to redemption. The author makes sharp commentary on the concept of atheism by setting up the idea that christ is a matter of life or death. The novel is used as a proclamation of faith as well as an analysis of american society.. The novel reflects the society, both religious and nonreligious, of the time that it is set in; this reflection allows O’Connor to emphasize both her own and her faith’s opinions of the world that surrounded her post World War II.

    Read More

  • Anne Hutchingson and Freeborn Garrettson

    1197 Words  | 3 Pages

    Noll, Mark A. The Old Religion in a New World: The History of North American Christianity. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2002.

    Read More

  • Go Tell It On The Mountain

    1010 Words  | 3 Pages

    In James Baldwin’s 1952 novel “Go Tell It On The Mountain” the characters in the novel each embark on a spiritual journey. Baldwin has dedicated a chapter to each member of the Grimes family, detailing their trails and tribulations, hopes and aspirations, as each one’s quest to get closer to God becomes a battle. I have chosen the character John because I admire the fierce struggle he endured to find his spirituality. I will examine how he’s embarked on his quest and prove that he has done it with integrity and dignity.

    Read More

  • The Use Of Religion In Mary Rowlandson And Jonathan Edwards's Writings

    923 Words  | 2 Pages

    Because of their Puritanical beliefs, it is no surprise that the major theme that runs throughout Mary Rowlandson and Jonathan Edwards’s writings is religion. This aspect of religion is apparent in not only the constant mentions about God himself, but also in the heavy use of biblical scriptures. In their respective writings, Rowlandson and Edwards utilize scripture, but for different purposes; one uses it to convey that good and bad events happen solely because of God’s will, and the other uses it, in one instance, to illustrate how it brought him closer to God, and, in another instance, to justify his harsh claims about God’s powerful wrath.

    Read More

  • William Bradford and Thomas Morton

    1101 Words  | 3 Pages

    Zuckerman, Michael “Pilgrims in the Wilderness: Community, Modernity, and the Maypole at Merry Mount”, The New England Quarterly, Vol. 50, No. 2 (Jun., 1977), pp. 255-277. The New England Quarterly, Inc.

    Read More

  • Essay About Alice Walker

    1908 Words  | 4 Pages

    Walker’s publication of her latest novel, The Temple of My Familiar, has raised the criticism bar. They complain that Alice Walker has adopted a mushy new age philosophy to confront historical Christianity that has misled and misplaced black women. (Hall 8)

    Read More

  • Flannery O'Connor's Short Fiction

    3167 Words  | 7 Pages

    In this analysis, we will be looking at just how Flannery O'Connor accomplished this seemingly impossible task, non-didactic Christian fiction, by examining elements of faith, elements of style, and thematic elements in her writing. While secondary sources are included for perspective, I have focused primarily upon Miss O'Connor's own essays and speeches in my examination of the writer's motivations, attitudes, and technique, most of which are contained in the posthumous collection Mystery and Manners. Unlike some more cryptic writers, O'Connor was happy to discuss the conceptual and philosophical underpinnings of her stories, and this candor is a godsend for the researcher that seeks to know what "makes the writer tick."

    Read More

  • The Sacrifice a Mother Would Make for Her Child in Beloved by Toni Morrison

    1597 Words  | 4 Pages

    Fulton, Lorie Watkins. "Hiding fire and brimstone in lacy groves: the twinned trees of Beloved." African American Review 39.1-2 (2005): 189+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 5 May 2014.

    Read More

  • Mary Freeman's The Revolt of Mother and the Domestic Feminist

    1385 Words  | 3 Pages

    8th ed. Vol. C. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. 662-72. Print.

    Read More

More about Hazel Mote's Spiritual Struggle

Open Document