Flannery O'Connor and William Faulkner's Characters and Morality
Flannery O’Connor and William Faulkner refuse to surrender to the temptation of writing fanciful stories where the hero defeats the villain and everyone lives happily ever after. Instead, these two writers reveal realistic portrayals of death and the downfall of man. Remarkably, O’Connor and Faulkner’s most emotionally degraded characters fail to believe that an omnipotent deity controls their fate. This belief directly correlates to the characters’ inability to follow a strict set of morals or value human life. On the other hand, one might expect Faulkner and O’Connor’s “Christian” characters to starkly contrast the vile heathens who deny the existence of God. However, these characters struggle to follow their own standards of morality.
The southern culture places much value on community, courtesy, and the standard of morality: the Bible. But under this facade of civility lie slanderous gossip, impure motives, and hidden iniquity. Faulkner’s character, Cora Tull, is a prime example of this. Though she openly admits that she has no right to pass judgment on Addie Bundren because, “It is the Lord’s place to judge,” Cora Tull later hypocritically states, “I realized out of the vanity of her heart she (Addie) had spoken sacrilege.” Cora’s desire for Addie’s repentance blinds her from seeing her own sin. On the other hand, Mrs. Turpin, a character in O’Connor’s “Revelation,” struggles with this same sin but in a different manner. Mrs. Turpin appears to politely encounter strangers with kindness but, alas, her kindness is corrupted. Though Mrs. Turpin’s sincere smiles and courteous small talk make her appear to truly care about others around h...
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... refuse to believe in God. In fact, the “Christians” could probably be condemned more readily because they have a standard of morality and choose not to abide by it. On the other hand, when a person knows that there are no consequences he acts accordingly. For instance, the “Misfit” kills people and thinks nothing of it because he merely lives for the moment without thinking through his iniquity. Conversely, Whitfield recognizes his wrong doing but simply lowers his standards of morality thereby causing only more grief.
Works Cited
Faulkner, William. As I Lay Dying. New York: Vintage Books, 1990.
O’Connor, Flannery. Collected Works: Stories and Occasional Prose: “Revelation.”
New York: Penguin, 1988. 285-327.
---. Collected Works: Stories and Occasional Prose: “A Good Man is Hard to Find.”
New York: Penguin, 1988. 328-340.
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.
William Faulkner's three novels referred to as the Snopes Trilogy submerge the reader into the deepest, darkest realms of the human mind. The depth of these novels caused the immediate dismissal of any preconceived notions I had toward Faulkner and his writings. No longer did his novels seem to be simple stories describing the white trash, living in the artificial Yoknapatawpha County, of the deep South. The seemingly redneck, simple-minded characters of the Snopes family, when examined closely, reveal all the greed, guile, and brilliance in the human heart and mind. The means by which the Snopes family lives, the means by which it survives, causes the reader to contemplate the boundary between survival and stealing, between necessity and evil. Is it wrong for a greedy person to manipulate another greedy person, using his or her own greed against them? Can evil swallow itself up, consuming an evil person by means of another evil person? The Snopes Trilogy reveals the consuming effect of deceit combined with ambition and displays the genius of the human mind despite an outward disposition that seemingly denies any intelligence at all.
Growing up in Mississippi in the late Nineteenth Century and the early part of the Twentieth Century, young William Faulkner witnessed first hand the struggles his beloved South endured through their slow progression of rebuilding. These experiences helped to develop Faulkner’s writing style. “Faulkner deals almost exclusively with the Southern scene (with) the Civil War … always behind his work” (Warren 1310. His works however are not so much historical in nature but more like folk lore. This way Faulkner is not constrained to keep details accurate, instead he manipulate the story to share his on views leading the reader to conclude morals or lessons from his experience. Faulkner writes often and “sympathetically of the older order of the antebellum society. It was a society that valued honor, (and) was capable of heroic action” (Brooks 145) both traits Faulkner admired. These sympathetic views are revealed in the story “A Rose for Emily” with Miss Emily becoming a monument for the Antebellum South.
By the late eighteenth century, the ideological formulation of the newly reformed Nation was in transition as Americans attempted to maintain order and instill proper codes of conduct. In A Model of Christian Charity by John Winthrop we see carnal love represented as separate parts of a Puritan society, “love” being the only act capable of keeping the bonds of society rigid. This would not only be necessary for the survival of the Puritan people but as evident in “Money & Morals in America: A History” by author Patricia O’Toole, “If they [Puritans] succeeded in loving one another, Winthrop promised, God would bless them in all ways. If they turned their hearts away from heaven, they would perish.”(O’Toole 6). In later decades to come, The Coquette by Hannah Webster Forster dealt with the freedom and oppression unfettered passion and pleasure created for heiress Eliza Wharton who is ultimately left vulnerable and at the mercy of others because of of her radical choices. The central character Eliza Wharton, becomes a martyr of carnal sin and Winthrop's anti-thesis by willingly positioning herself as the juxtapose of the Puritan ideal whom regarded marriage and family life as the moral institution based upon set standards in which neither humility, poverty nor charity was as vital to either the performance or the perception of a holy life.
William Faulkner elected to write “Barn Burning” from his young character Sarty’s perspective because his sense of morality and decency would present a more plausible conflict in this story. Abner Snopes inability to feel the level of remorse needed to generate a truly moral predicament in this story, sheds light on Sarty’s efforts to overcome the constant “pull of blood”(277) that forces him to remain loyal to his father. As a result, this reveals the hidden contempt and fear Sarty has developed over the years because of Abner’s behavior. Sarty’s struggle to maintain an understanding of morality while clinging to the fading idolization of a father he fears, sets the tone for a chain of events that results in his liberation from Abner’s destructive defiance-but at a costly price.
Hulga, or Joy as her mother calls her, is the protagonist of Good Country People. Being an atheist, having a doctorate in philosophy, and a wooden leg, is the outcast of her family, the dull diamond in both Mrs. Hopewell’s life and mind for she believes that Hulga shall never be up to her expectations. When a Bible salesman by the name of Manley Pointer visits the house, he woos the heart of Hulga to the point that she agrees to meet him the following day to take a walk down in the luscious fields of rural Georgia. Believing that Pointer is a good, Christian man, she strolls with him to a secluded barn to which they start getting comfortable. After many minutes of persuasion, Hulga removes her wooden leg, along with her glasses, to which she cannot she, nor can she walk. Oddly carrying his briefcase, he retrieves a hollowed out Bible containing condoms, cards, and a bottle of whiskey. Then, abruptly, he snatches her aiding wooden leg, and scurries away telling her that he name is not Manley Pointer, he collects prostheses, and that he is an atheist, similar to Hulga/Joy. This moment in the short story is her revelation, and it represents to her not only that people have more faults than those that are ap...
William Faulkner was a well-esteemed author of the 20th century who used many literary techniques to display messages in his writings. In his short story, A Rose for Emily, he used literary tools such as point of view, physical plot structure, and symbolism to develop his theme that the past is always wound into the present.
The South is tradition, in every aspect of the word: family, profession, and lifestyle. The staple to each tradition in the south, and ultimately masculinity, is to be a southern gentleman. William Faulkner, a man with the most southern of blood running through his veins, was everything but a southern gentleman.
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.
Edwards, Jonathan. "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: Norton & Company, 1999. 200-211.
For example, he argues that “every unconverted man properly belongs to hell” (322). Right before he makes this claim, he quotes John 3:18, and right after, he quotes John 8:23. By bracketing his claim with direct quotes from the Bible, he provides evidence that defends his belief about where non-Christians are destined to end up. This pattern of justifying his arguments with biblical scriptures continues; for instance, when Edwards proclaims “All the kings of the earth, before God, are as grasshoppers . . . The wrath of the great King of kings, is as much more terrible than theirs, as his majesty is greater.” (328) he immediately quotes Luke 12:4-5. This provides validity to his claim that God’s wrath is infinitely more terrible than any earthly king. He goes on to expand on God’s powerful wrath and asserts that “Nothing shall be withheld, because it is so hard for you to bear.” (329); he follows this up by quoting Ezekiel 8:18. Through once again following up his claims with a reference, Edwards proves that his argument of a non-pitying, wrathful God is biblically
“Dysfunctional families pervade Yoknapatawpa County” (Urgo 66). The ventures of the three key characters in Light in August lead to inevitable outcomes due to their families’ neglect. Each individual respectively has his own faults in life. However, it is a mixture of childhood negligence and happenstance which causes these characters to isolate themselves and commit negative acts. Undoubtedly, William Faulkner develops empathy through the trials of Hightower, Lena Grove, and Joe Christmas as they confront their families’ past actions.
Mrs. Turpin in Flannery O’Connor’s short story Revelation, is a prejudice and judgmental woman who spends most of her life prying in the lives of everyone around her. She looks at people not for who they are, but for their race or social standing. In fact, Mrs. Turpin is concerned with race and status so much that it seems to take over her life. Although she seems to disapprove of people of different race or social class, Mrs. Turpin seems to be content and appreciative with her own life. It is not until Mrs. Turpin’s Revelation that she discovers that her ways of life are no better then those she looks down upon and they will not assure her a place in Heaven.
Mark Twain’s novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn told of a young boy who traveled south with a runaway slave, Jim, after escaping his father by means of a fake murder. In the myriad of misadventures, Huck observed many things, learned about himself and about the southern society, and dynamically changed as a person. Twain satirized the gullibility and the underdeveloped moral compass of the average southerner. Through this satire and characters in the novel, he discusses numerous topics including racism, treatment of the black population, of the female population and many more. The two most prominent themes that ran throughout the book included religion versus superstition and morals. Twain portrayed superstition as morally superior to Christianity through instances of Christian hypocrisy and that the actions of superstitious characters, including Huck and Jim, tend to be the ‘correct’ ones. In doing so, it demonstrates the religious hypocrisy, as well as general behaviors, of southern society.
The main recurring theme in Flannery O’Connor’s stories is the use of violence towards characters in order to give them an eye-opening moment in which they finally realize their true self in relation to the rest of society and openly accept insight into how they should act or think. This theme of violence can clearly be seen in three works by Flannery O’Connor: A Good Man is Hard to Find, Good Country People, and Everything That Rises Must Converge.