The Doubles Motif in Flannery O’Connor's The Violent Bear It Away
In The Violent Bear It Away, Flannery O’Connor makes use of the doubles motif. The doubles motif occurs when one character looks at another character and sees or senses yet another character’s presence. In this novel, Francis and Rayber not only serve as doubles for each other but also as a double for Mason.
Francis makes Mason Tarwater’s presence felt by the way he talks and the fact that he, like Mason, never removes his cap. After Francis is with Rayber a few days, Rayber feels Mason’s presence. “Rayber had never, even when Old Tarwater had lived under his roof, been so conscious of the old man’s presence” (189).
Mason used baptism to gain control of Francis and to have him carry out his mission after his death. “Using baptism to extend his boundaries of self like a wall around Young Tarwater, Mason simultaneously performs an act of regeneration and murder to be repeated later when Francis baptizes/murders Bishop. Francis then becomes Mason’s immortal self. Francis provides Mason with a sense of existing, but he can only tolerate the boy as a double, not as an independent human being” (Paulson 102).
Mason clings to the idea of being a prophet and Francis “clings to the idea of being born in a wreck, with no father, an orphan, because this makes him unique, gaining epic proportions in order to transcend the anonymous crowd” (Paulson 106). Francis denies the father the way that Mason and Rayber deny the mother.
Rayber tries, as Mason does, to implant his ideas within Francis. “Both Rayber and Mason direct the explosive force of their actions toward Francis, being lost themselves. Their struggle to survive decimates their nephew” (Paulson 106). Rayber condemned the violent act that Mason committed, taking Francis and Rayber both away from reality, but Rayber committed the violent act of trying to drown his own son. Rayber and Mason both use Francis and Bishop as a way to keep the loneliness away. “O’Connor, though, draws a parallel between them by making both men evangelical zealots” (Paulson 102). Rayber is skeptical of religion and Mason has a religious fervor.
Rayber and Mason both try to teach Francis but they do not want to teach him the same things. “It soon becomes clear that not only Rayber’s efforts at ‘reconstruction’ but also Mason’s muddied baptismal waters threaten the freedom of Francis, who weakly perceives the devil prophet within them both” (Paulman 103).
Just because people within a family are blood related and living together, it does not mean they are identical in their beliefs and actions. In some cases the generations of people in the family have the same way looking at things and understand the same sets of rules and believe in same kind of moral behavior. Unlike that, in the novel, “The Chrysalids”, the protagonist, David Strorm and his father, Joseph, the antagonist have very different characters and conflicting points of view.
The thesis of this book is that George Whitefield (1714-1770) changed the nature of Christianity by promoting and conducting mass revivals that exploited the weaknesses of institutional Christianity.
...his father had acted the way he did, which caused him to be committed. He was facing the same experiences and the same side-effects his father once felt. However, faced with this dilemma between acceptance and equal power, Baldwin looks to the only man he can trust to help him, his father. He trusts his father because he knows that his father went through the same dilemma he is going through, he has seen the same affects in his father’s rage and hate. However, his father already passed away, and what help that could have been gathered from his father is gone; Baldwin can only piece together his memories of his father’s character and life and compare it to his own to see how the two are really alike.
Robinson, Ken. “Education System Fosters a Culture of Conformity, Compliance. Chron.com. Hearst Newspapers, 16 March 2012. 3 April 2014.
In chapter two, ‘Francis and His Companions,’ Cunningham exposes the considerable growth in Francis of Assisi’s influence, as he recounts his companions that joined him after deciding to live his life. The chapter is significant because it exposes how Francis of Assisi’s gospel is different from the orthodox Catholic practices, which recognized the pope, as the sole Vicar of Christ. (Cunningham 32). This chapter is important in my life because it reinforces my conviction God is the almighty and all-powerful, and all people regardless of the status of the needed to worship
John Ruston Pagan’s book, Anne Orthwood’s Bastard, is split into sections describing the different components of sex and law in early Virginia. Pagan describes these components through the story of Anne Orthwood, John Kendall, and their bastard son, Jasper. Anne Orthwood was born an illegitimate child. There was much shame and disgrace for illegitimate children. Although illegitimacy made Anne’s life especially hard, she also faced the same pressures as other members of her generation. Her generation was dealing with shortages of land and labor; increasing prices, rent, and unemployment rates; and declining wages. These struggles caused many people to emigrate from Britain to the Americas.
In The Yellow Book the wife is in a confined room with “barred windows and there are rings and things in the walls,” to what happens to seem like a crazy asylum where she is kept because of her controlling husband John, who is a physician and her consultant. In this short story, the unknown wife is kept from going out or doing what she wants to do, which is writing. Like any other wife her only wish is to do one thing, which is to keep her husband happy. “I meant to be such a help to John, such a real rest and comfort, and here I am a comparative burden already!” She has a husband who says who she has “a slight hysterical tendency,” which she believes differently but since her husband is a physician of a high standing all she can do is nod and agree. Even though she thinks he is wrong, nothing she says can change his mind. In Hell-Heaven Boudi, the mother, is involved in an arranged marriage...
However, O’Connor has her last book name “Greenleaf” this clarifies her way of writing about imagery, detail and her formal language by expressing her personality which is darkness. The novel emphasizes the lack of grace and faith. There are characters who are involved who wish life to be equal and not have consequences. For example, it is at a farm that Mrs. May owns and her employer name “Scofield” who both work at the barn. O’Connor writing this novel gives the imagery of the Mrs.May begging to be blessed by Jesus because her barn will be handed to her mother-in-law and sees that her effort will be damage. Otherwise, it will care for her sons who don't care. As, pity as Mrs. May she is being brought by her religion to send prayers to her
High fructose corn syrup is known to proliferate levels of uric acid; it also can raise lactic acid levels (Buist), which leads to muscle cramps. The intake of corn syrup creates a higher risk for heart disease. It also produces “oxidative damage” to the body, depriving cells of oxygen, which in turn speeds up the aging process (Buist). Fructose is broken down by the liver, so the the liver has to pause its production of insulin in order to break down the sugar. This can lead to diabetes and weight gain. High fructose corn syrup also impedes the breakdown of copper, which also can lead to diabetes, heart attacks, and thyroid problems (Buist). Ingesting this sugar ...
Niebuhr, Reinhold. Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001. Print.
Each of Truman’s advisors saw eye to eye in that the atomic bomb should be put to use in order to preserve the lives of the American and Japanese nations. (Walker)
...ble in the world and all the objects in nature requires such an impression of wisdom, happiness and simplicity to survive. He urges people to use the pleasure of nature with some self-control because nature always has the colors of the spirit and says that the nature is the component of universe. According to Thoreau, Emersosn and Transcendentalism Emerson’s “Nature” summary and analysis Emerson states that “a man may grasp the underlying meaning of the physical world by living harmoniously with nature, and by loving truth and virtue”
A doppelganger or twin is an apparition or double of a living person or thing. Poe uses this technique in the Black cat mostly. He goes into detail about the second cat saying
Puleo, Mev. The Struggle is One: Voices and Visions of Liberation. State University of New York Press: Albany, 1994.
Tackach, James. "A Raisin In The Sun." Masterplots II: Juvenile & Young Adult Literature Series, Supplement (1997): 1-2. Literary Reference Center Plus. Web. 8 Apr. 2014.