Donna Smith Dr. Ford Enc 1102 Summer B August 4, 2015 Mary Flannery O 'Connor author of the short story in our Literature book; "A Good Man is Hard to Find", was brought up in a strict southern catholic home. Her father died when she was 15 years old from Lupus, a debilitating auto immune disease. In the prime of her writing career O’Connor was diagnosed with the same disease. Lupus is a horribly painful disease and pain causes some people to be angry and irritable. I believe her stories are a reflection of her life and how the disease affected her and all of these pent up emotions are expressed in her stories. The question I plan to answer "Are O’Connor’s grim stories a reflection of her emotions towards her life and her Lupus, causing her …show more content…
In O’Connor’s biography written by Marcia Dinneen, Dinneen says, “O’Connor was in the hospital for 6 months. Due to the massive doses of ACTH she was given to get the disease under control, her bones were weakened and her hip bones could not support her weight and she was forced to use crutches”(Dinneen). She ended up only being able to write two hours a day, but did so without fail (O’Donnell). The psychological effect this must have had on this independent, aspiring writer must have been enormous. The Royal College of Psychiatry issued a pamphlet to persons coping with physical illnesses. This pamphlet reiterates what I stated about pain causing the person to be irritable and reinforces what I personally witness from someone suffering with an auto-immune disorder. To summarize, the pamphlet says, “…have a serious physical illness. Both the illness, and the treatment for it, can affect the way they think and feel. A serious physical illness can affect: relationships, work, spiritual beliefs, and socializing with other people. A serious illness can bring about feelings of sadness, fear, worry or anger.” …show more content…
Web. 4 Aug. 2015. Dyer, Candice. A Good friend is Hard to Find. 2007. Web. Hunter, Frederic. “Following the footsteps of Flannery O’Connor”. Christian Science Monitor 5 Sept. 2008: 19 Biography in Context. Web. 30 July 2015. "Lupus." Symptoms. Mayo Clinic Staff, 18 Nov. 2014. Web. 04 Aug. 2015. Morgan, C.E. “Grace Hurts”. Christian Century. 21 Aug 2013. O 'Donnell, Angela Alaimo. "A Litany for Flannery." America 23 Mar. 2015: 33. Biography in Context. Web. 30 July 2015. O’Connell, Michael. Getting to "Judgment Day ': Flannery O’Connor’s Representation of personal dislocation. 2013. Web. O’Connor, Flannery. “A Good Man is Hard to Find." Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. 8th ed. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. Boston: Wadsworth, 2013. 228-237. Print. The Prayer Journal. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux. N.d. Web. Waters, Jen. Eternal O 'Connor; Author 's work endures 40 years after her death. Web.
Asals, Frederick. Flannery O'Connor : The Imagination of Extremity. University of Georgia Press; Reissue edition. Athens, Georgia, 2007.
The essays, “On Being a Cripple”, by Nancy Mairs, and “Living Under Circe’s Spell”, by Matthew Soyster are both about how each author deals with multiple sclerosis in their life and their opinions on it. Mairs’ piece is a careful examination of her experience with MS and her perspective towards her future. In contrast, Soyster writes humorously of a particular incident he had with MS and artfully weaves his ideas about the disease in with his story. In both instances, the authors share the purpose of narrating their encounter with MS to the world to raise awareness. Both employ the rhetorical strategies of appeals to pathos and varying sentence structures to achieve this goal, some more effectively than others.
Throughout all of Flannery O’Connor’s work, there are three dominant themes that show themselves: Christianity, irony, and grotesqueness. In nearly every story of hers, O’Connor is able to make a tragic story very grotesque in the way that she describes the events and characters of her story. [add more to introduction]
Flannery O’Connor’s Catholic faith shows heavily in her writing’s, but yet most of her characters are Protestant. Protestants fall under Western churches, and follow the principle of Reformation. Flannery wants her characters to suffer, to feel anguish and find redemption. While Flannery O’Connor has written many complex texts with different themes, her faith is always the fueling force behind her creativity. Contrary to popular belief, O’Connor’s notions have only widened her points of view in her writings. O’Connor uses faith in her work to show the readers spirituality and grace.
Scott, Nathan A., Jr. "Flannery O'Connor's Testimony." The Added Dimension: The Art and Mind of Flannery O'Connor. Ed. Melvin J. Friedman and Lewis A. Lawson. New York: Fordham UP, 1966. 138-56.
Flannery O’Connor teaches a lot of lessons in Good Country People that can be applied to anyone’s everyday life. O’Connor gives perfect examples and reasoning on why people should have faith and believe in some type of religion. She also teaches the lessons that people should have an open heart and see beyond themselves and their beliefs, instead of being so arrogant and thinking they know it all. Identity, symbolism, and reality was communicate in this story’s theme, which revolves around man’s arrogance in thinking that he knows it
May, John R. The Pruning Word: The Parables of Flannery O'Connor. Notre Dame, IN: U of Notre Dame P, 1976.
Cofer, Jordan. "Flannery O'connor's Role In Popular Culture: A Review Essay." Southern Quarterly 47.2 (2010): 140-157. OmniFile Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson). Web. 2 Nov. 2013.
All of O’Connor’s writings are done in a Southern scene with a Christian theme, but they end in tragedy. As Di Renzo stated “her procession of unsavory characters “conjures up, in her own words, “an image of Gothic monstrosities”… (2). Flannery O’Connor was highly criticized for her work as a writer, because of her style of writing, and her use of God. It was stated that “…whatever the stories may have meant to her, they often send a quite different message to the reader”… (Bandy). But the stories of O’Connor take a look at the way people depict themselves on the outside, but inside they are
Flannery O’Connor's perception of human nature is imprinted throughout her various works. This view is especially evident in the short stories, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” and “Revelation.” She conveys a timeless message through the scope of two ignorant, southern, upper class women. In “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” O’Connor presents readers to a family who is going on a road trip with their selfish grandmother. She is a religious woman who does not follow the set standards that she preaches. Similar characteristics are exposed in “Revelation.” As the self centered Mrs. Turpin sits in the waiting room, she contemplates on her own status with God. Nevertheless, she still commits the sin of judging others. In both of O’Connor’s short stories, these controversial protagonists initially put up a facade in order to alienate themselves from their prospective societies. Although the grandmother and Mrs. Turpin both believe in God, O’Connor utilizes theme to expose that they also convince themselves that they can take on His role by placing judgement on people who, at the most fundamental level, are in the same category as them.
O'Connor, Flannery. "A Good Man Is Hard to Find." The Story and Its Writer An Introduction to Short Fiction. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford / St. Martin's, 2011. 1042-053. Print.
1) O’Connor, Flannery, A Good Man Is Hard to Find (Women Writers: Text & Contexts Series). Rutgers University Press, 1993.
Whitt, Margaret. Understanding Flannery O’Connor. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1995. 47-48, 78. Print.
Web. . Margaret, Whitt. Understanding Flannery O’Connor . Ebook.
...sque, and in Flannery O’Connor’s artistic makeup there is not the slightest trace of sentimentally” (qtd. in Bloom 19). Flannery O’Connor’s style of writing challenges the reader to examine her work and grasp the meaning of her usage of symbols and imagery. Edward Kessler wrote about Flannery O’Connor’s writing style stating that “O’Connor’s writing does not represent the physical world but serves as her means of apprehending and understanding a power activating that world” (55). In order to fully understand her work one must research O’Connor and her background to be able to recognize her allegories throughout her stories. Her usage of religious symbols can best be studied by looking into her religious Catholic upbringing. Formalist criticism exists in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” through Flannery O’Connor’s use of plot, characterization, setting, and symbolism.