Christianity vs. Entrapment in O'Connor's Wise Blood
In "The Cage of Matter: The World as Zoo in Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood," William Rodney Allen addresses the "reverse evolution" of Enoch Emery and the "inverted quest for salvation" of Hazel Motes, suggesting a parallel between the two main characters of O'Connor's novel which reinforces its theme of the utter hopelessness of those who reject or mock Christ. Allen shows that O'Connor describes the spiritually devoid characters in her book in animal-like terms, equating faithless humans with soulless animals. The essay further asserts that O'Connor uses the zoo as a metaphor for a physical world that entraps those without spirituality. Indeed, the novel shows a world of madness, seemingly empty of values and without meaning, which becomes a prison for those who can find no enlightenment. However, O'Connor herself once stated that "Wise Blood is a very hopeful book." This statement, along with the fact of her devout Catholicism, illuminates O'Connor's theme of Christianity as a prerequisite for enlightenment and deli...
Religion is a pervasive theme in most of the literary works of the late Georgia writer Flannery O'Connor. Four of her short stories in particular deal with the relationship between Christianity and society in the Southern Bible Belt: "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," "The River," "Good Country People," and "Revelation." Louis D. Rubin, Jr. believes that the mixture of "the primitive fundamentalism of her region, [and] the Roman Catholicism of her faith . . ." makes her religious fiction both well-refined and entertaining (70-71). O'Connor's stories give a grotesque and often stark vision of the clash between traditional Southern Christian values and the ever-changing social scene of the twentieth century. Three of the main religious ingredients that lend to this effect are the presence of divine meanings, revelations of God, and the struggle between the powers of Satan and God.
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.
Satterfield, Ben. "Wise Blood, Artistic Anemia, and the Hemorrhaging of O'Connor Criticism." Studies in American Fiction 17 (1989): 33-50.
“For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” John 3:17
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.
"[W]hen thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth" counsels the Bible, thus setting the precedent for all well-meaning members of western society concerning their charitable intentions (Matt. 6.3). Humanity's motivation to aid others, regardless of the outcome, is oft times spotted by the subtle struggle between selflessness and selfishness. Flannery O'Connor captures this classic conflict between good and evil in Southern Grotesque fashion through her characters, the protagonist Sheppard and his foil, Rufus Johnson, in [comment2] "The Lame Shall Enter First".[comment3] Challenging the literal paradigm of light and darkness, O'Connor weaves together well crafted characterization, cryptic dialogue, and both biblical and literary allusion in this paradoxical plot and, by way of Sheppard and the antithetical Rufus, blends the black and white of Christian dogma into an ironic grey.
THE WITCH-HUNT IN MODERN EUROPE By: Brian Levack The Witch-Hunt in Modern Europe by Brian Levack proved to be an interesting as well as insightful look at the intriguing world of the European practice of witchcraft and witch-hunts. The book offers a solid, reasonable interpretation of the accusation, prosecution, and execution for witchcraft in Europe between 1450 and 1750. Levack focuses mainly on the circumstances from which the witch-hunts emerged, as this report will examine. The causes of witch-hunting have been sometimes in publications portrayed differently from reality. The hunts were not prisoner escapee type hunts but rather a hunt that involved the identification of individuals who were believed to be engaged in a secret activity. Sometimes professional witch-hunters carried on the task, but judicial authorities performed most. The cause of most of these hunts is the multi-causal approach, which sees the emergence of new ideas about the witches and changes in the criminal law statutes. Both point to major religious changes and a lot of social tension among society. The intellectual foundations of the hunts were attributed to the witch’s face-to-face pact with the devil and the periodic meetings of witches to engage in practices considered to be barbaric and heinous. The cumulative concept of witchcraft pointed immediately to the devil, the source of the magic and the one most witches adored. There was strong belief then that witches made pacts with the devil. Some would barter their soul to the devil in exchange for a gift or a taste of well being.
...ghout the novella is that even though we are humans and not animals, if we continue to repress each and every aspect of our own primitive needs and instincts, we will completely lose them. We will not be able to function in any world except the one we live in, making us extremely and very dangerously vulnerable. We need to, instead, embrace these instincts as our ancestors did to help them survive in their own unique, yet brutal environments. We can never revert fully back to Primitivity as Buck did, that would cause absolute chaos. We do however, need to utilize certain aspects of these natures, the ones that can help us survive, give us special intuition, and allow us to come closer to ourselves and understand what it means to be a truly free and independent human being in a world that is entirely too dependent on altering everything that humans need to embrace.
The Tragedy of Macbeth has many elements that contribute to the overall theme and plot of the play; the leading antagonists of these elements are The Witches. Also known as “The Weird Sisters”, these characters inspire the central action of the play by disturbing Macbeth’s mental state and morality, influencing the creation of themes throughout the play, using their specific characteristics to spread an air of inevitability and terror, and finally, using their magic to disrupt other characters’ lives as well as stirring the audience’s emotions. Historical information is used throughout the play to make The Witches’ magic and reasons for doing so that much more terrifying. The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare uses The Witches to further critical components of the story; these characters make the play increasingly more terrifying because their actions reach to the audience’s emotions as they corrupt Macbeth and his principles, use historic evidence to alter the meaning of their actions, summon
Macbeth is a very gothic, persistent tale of a great general in the Scottish army who causes his own downfall by listening to the dark prophecies of the three witches and his wife, Lady Macbeth. Macbeth’s self-consciousness fails to play an important part in the murder of multiple kinsmen causing the death of his wife and his mental health. Macbeth is not necessarily a horrible leader; the problem with him is that his ambitions exceed his expectancies. Macbeth’s character has constantly evolved from the point he was introduced into the play. Initially he seems as an extremely humble person, but as he learns more about the prophecies, his hindsight fails to overlook the complications of his ambitions. Macbeth’s faith in the apparitions and the witches ultimately cause Macbeth’s downfall and the unnecessary death of his beloved kinsmen such as King Duncan and Banquo.
Parents everywhere ponder the question, what causes autism in young children? Since the early 1990s it has been debated whether or not vaccines are to blame for being the causal effect of autism. Numerous studies have been conducted to prove this theory true or false; however, many parents are still fighting the courts that vaccines caused autism in their children. Furthermore, more babies are not getting vaccinated due to the increasing scare being presented on the media about vaccines. The vaccine-autism controversy is the central issue in Jeffrey S. Gerber’s and Paul A. Offits’ article “Vaccines and Autism: A Tale of Shifting Hypotheses” as well as in Andy Coghlan’s article “Vaccines May Have Triggered Autism-Like Symptoms, US Court Rules.”
... of hope for rescue and the destruction of their ties to former human society; and the Lord of the Flies, used to represent mankind’s “essential illness”: inherent human evil. Ultimately, Golding’s symbols, simple in appearance yet burdened with the weight of human savagery, violence, and inner darkness, do more than frighten. As these symbols are ingrained into our minds, so, too, is responsibility: the responsibility of recognition, understanding, and action. If we do not take heed of the messages behind Golding’s symbols, then our ignorance may be more than unwise—it may be fatal. For if we do not soon take steps to confront our inner evil face-to-face, we may eventually find ourselves trapped in Golding’s harrowing depiction of human society: one bound only by rules far too fragile that, when broken, lead only to chaos, self-destruction, and total savagery.
To truly become alive is to be woken up, broken in, and interrupted from a trance-like state of indifference. When we are awakened in spirit, we can finally experience true joy and true life. We will be able to see that we were not truly living before, but that we can now feel more, understand more, and imagine more. In The Silver Chair, Puddleglum the Marshwiggle displays an enormous amount of courage and life, undeterred when standing up to the wicked Queen. He speaks life to the fullest while everyone around him is captivated by evil, enthralled by the charm and deceit of dark magic. As the evil queen tries to trick four beings into a belief that Narnia does not exist, Puddleglum exclaims, “Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things… But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world hollow” (The Silver Chair 190-191). In this, Puddleglum demonstrates that he is alive and flourishing by capturing the essence of Christianity. Hebrews 12:1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Without life, faith, and hope, there is no way to know what is true, or to have any kind of understanding of what we are confident is true. Puddleglum has established that he knows what he lives for, and that he will stick to his beliefs, no matter what. Wendell Berry states, “Be like the fox who makes more tracks than necessary,
C.S. Lewis was the 20th century’s most popular proponent of faith based on reason. As a child, he created an imaginary world where personified animals came to life, and later, he wrote the book, Chronicles of Narnia. How did he transform from a boy fascinated with anthropomorphic animals into a man of immense faith? His transformation to the Christian religion happened as his fame began to flourish. People wrote him, asking him about his claims about the truth of Christianity (Belmonte, Kevin). As I attended the drama of Freud’s Last Session, I was engrossed into the plot of the play and was constantly thinking about how it pertained to the objectives of the World Literature class. I not only connected the content of the play to its context, but I also reached out to apply the context to a discussion on a broader scale. I then discovered why the context of literature is imperative for true understanding of the w...
In this play, it the influence of the witches and their prophecies led to a snowball effect. The original prophecies set all the actions in motion. Once Macbeth killed King Duncan, he felt the need to keep on killing people. He tried to secure his throne by preventing the prophecy of Banquo’s children becoming kings from coming true. In doing this he had to kill both Banquo and Fleance. This led to the murders of Lady Macduff and her son. Macbeth became ruthless and cruel. It is as if the prophecies dehumanized him because Macbeth was so caught up in having them go his way. He was prepared to take any measure needed in order to keep his title of King of Scotland. In addition, Macbeth never really doubts the witches. After the prophecy of his title “Thane of Cawdor” is right, he believes anything and everything they say. On the other hand, Banquo is a little more cautious. He is intrigued by the words spoken by the witches but does not completely trust the information they are giving. If the witches were excluded from Macbeth, all the murders throughout the course of the piece may have never occurred. It is interesting to see how significantly the supernatural influenced the plot. Shakespeare wrote this play “to enlighten King James I as to the consequences of a belief in witchcraft and the terrible wrongs already committed in punishing those accused.”