Grotesque Elements In Flannery O Connor's Stories

Moreover, O’Connor’s fiction always involves the element of grotesque mostly by suddenness as well as in characterization. Some critics agree that the grotesque presentation is effective in depicting revelation. Author Anthony Di Renzo (1993) further supports that both good and evil are crossed to convey the message of grace rather than repel each other in most of O’Connor’s fiction. Physical appearances and fictitious personalities are also important features that contribute to grotesque element in O’Connor’s stories. In Flannery O’Connor’s Characters (1998), Laurence Enjolnas analyses that Flannery O’Connor tends to present flawed or deformed human characters instead of appealing and unrealistic ones. Enjolnas also suggests that suffering, horrible events and even physical ugliness should

O’Connor is concerned that the wrong characters are often identified or the right characters are interpreted with the wrong reasons. O’Connor explicitly talks about the grandmother’s (in A Good Man is Hard to Find) final act is a “moment of grace” in Mystery and Manners (1969). Despite the author’s actual interpretation of her own stories, some critics reject O’Connor’s explanation and emphasize that readers should trust the tale, not the teller of the tale. Joann McMullen shows a strong opposition to O’Connor’s theological claims. She criticizes the O’Connor’s use of symbols as any explanation can be made based on the stories and readers are burdened to decipher the hidden message behind the symbols. McMullen (1996) suggests that most of the stories offer little religious hope and the grotesque imagery has failed to convey the ideas of redemption. The discrepancies between the readers’ interpretation and her religious claims cannot be fully explained by her claim that readers are not sharing the same theology as