Flannery O'Connor was born in Savannah, Georgia, the only child of a Catholic family. The region was part of the 'Christ-haunted' Bible belt of the Southern States. The spiritual heritage of the region shaped profoundly O'Connor's writing as described in her essay "The Catholic Novelist in the Protestant South" (1969). O'Connor's father, Edward F. O'Connor, was a realtor owner. He worked later for a construction company and died in 1941. Her mother, Regina L. (Cline) O'Connor, came from a prominent family in the state - her father had been a mayor of Milledgeville for many years. When O'Connor was 12, her family moved to Milledgeville, her mother's birthplace. She attended the Peabody High School and enrolled in the Georgia State College for Women. At school she edited the college magazine and graduated in 1945 with an A.B. O'Connor then continued her studies at the University of Iowa, where she attended writer's workshops conducted by Paul Engle. At the age of 21 she published her first short story, 'The Geranium', in Accent. In the following year she received the degree of Master of Fine Arts in Literature. In 1947 she lived for seven months at Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, N.Y., an estate left by the Trask family for writers, painters and musicians. O'Connor published four chapters of Wise Blood in Mademoiselle, Sewanee Review, and Partisan Review in 1948 and 1949. The complete novel appeared 1952. It dealt with a young religious enthusiast, who attempts to establish a church without Christ. The Signet paperback version of the book advertised it as "A Searching Novel of Sin and Redemption". O'Connor's second novel, The Violent Bear It Away (1960), had a related subject matter. The protagonist is Francis Marion Tarwater who begins his ministry in his youth. He baptizes and drowns Bishop, his uncle's idiot son. Old Tarwater warns his grand-nephew: "'You are the kind of boy,' the old man said, 'that the devil is always going to be offering to assists, to give you a smoke or a drink or a ride, and to ask you your bidnis. You had better mind how you take up with strangers.'" Young Tarwater sets fire to his own woods to clean himself, and like his great-uncle, a mad prophet, he finally becomes a prophet and a madman. O'Connor once explained that "I can write about Protestant believers better than Catholic believers - because they express their belief in diverse kinds of dramatic action which is obvious enough for me to catch.
O’Hara was born in Chicago Illinois in 1913. There, she initially lived a happy life as the daughter of strict Catholic parents. She was a beautiful Irish woman with fair skin and dark eyes and hair. Dazzled by jewels and gorgeous clothing, O’Hara fell into the oldest profession. Becoming accustomed to fast money, she left home and went to San Francisco. A few years later in mid-1938 she took what she learned and moved to Hawaii to make money.
Kelly Flinn, author of Proud to Be: My Life, The Air Force, The Controversy, was born on December 23, 1970, in St. Louis, Missouri. When she was 12, she moved to Atlanta, Georgia. She graduated from high school in 1989. On June 29, 1989, she entered the United States Air Force Academy and began her active-duty career in the U.S. Air Force. She graduated form the Academy on June 2, 1993, and then went on the Undergraduate Pilot Training at Columbus Air Force Base. In September 1995 she was the Distinguished Graduate in her B-52 formal Training Unit. She was then stationed at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota. On May 28, 1997, Kelly J. Flinn resigned from active duty instead of facing a court martial.
Mary Flannery O'Connor was born on March 25, 1925, in Savannah, Georgia. Raised in her mother's family home in Milledgeville, Georgia, she was the only child of Regina Cline and Edward Francis O'Connor, Jr. Although little is known about Mrs. O'Connor's early childhood, in Melissa Simpson's biography on O'Connor, Simpson states that O'Connor attended St. Vincent's Grammar School in Savannah where she would rarely play with the other children and spent most her time reading by herself. After fifth, grade, O'Connor transferred; to Sacred Heart Grammar School for Girls; some say the reason for the transfer was that it was a more prestigious school than the former. She later enrolled in Peabody High School in 1938, entered an accelerated program at Georgia State Collge for Women in the summer of 1942, and in 1946 she was accepted into the Iowa Writer's Workshop at the University of Iowa (4 Simpson). According to American Decades, O'Connor earned her masters degree from the University of Iowa with six short-stories that were published in the periodical Accent (n pg Baughman).
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.
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.
Mary Flannery O’Connor was confident, modest, and honest. She often criticized herself. She once referred to herself as “prematurely arrogant” in a letter to her friend, Paul Engle. (Fitzgerald 14) “Flannery described herself as a ‘pigeon-toed only child with a receding chin and a you-leave-me-alone-or-I'll-bite-you complex.’”(Wikipedia) Even with all of her self-critizism, she was self-confident. She was quite arrogant and lead her to write what I believe is her greatest work, “The Artifical Nigger”. “What she often described as proably the best thing she would ever write , ‘The Artifical Nigger’ –a story that she contains more than she herself ever understood.”(Fitzgerald xviii) She was witty and quick to tell you exactly what she thought. In O’Connor’s letters she never lied not even to spare the feelings of those she was in correspondence with. She lived a seemly boring life, but was always lively and sharp until the day she died.
A story without style is like a man without personality: useless and boring. However, Flannery O’Connor incorporates various different styles in her narratives. Dark humor, irony, and symbolism are perhaps the utmost powerful and common styles in her writing. From “Revelation” and “Good Country People” to “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” all of O’Connor’s stories consist of different styles in writing.
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 lived most of her life in the southern state of Georgia. When once asked what the most influential things in her life were, she responded “Being a Catholic and a Southerner and a writer.” (1) She uses her knowledge of southern religion and popular beliefs to her advantage throughout the story. Not only does she thoroughly depict the southern dialect, she uses it more convincingly than other authors have previously attempted such as Charles Dickens and Zora Neale Hurston. In other works, the authors frequently use colloquialism so “local” that a reader not familiar with those slang terms, as well as accents, may have difficulty understanding or grasping the meaning of the particular passage. O’Connor not only depicts a genuine southern accent, she allows the characters to maintain some aspect of intelligence, which allows the audience to focus on the meaning of the passage, rather than the overbearing burden of interpreting a rather “foreign language.”
What is it that makes a story work? What gives it the ability to stand on its own, to be a unique piece of art? Flannery O’Connor believed that a “grand gesture” is what makes a story. But what exactly is a grand gesture?
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.
She published around seventy-five poems before beginning college (“Biography” 1). Brooks graduated college from Wilson Junior College in 1936 (“Biography” 1). Three years later, at the age of 22, she married Henry Lowington Blakely II (Shuman 199). They married and moved into a small kitchenette apartment which would later be used as an inspiration to some of Brooks works. Blakely and Brooks later separated in 1969 and then reconciled in 1974 and stayed together (Shuman 199). While developing as a poet, Brooks became a secretary to support herself and her husband (“Biography” 2). Brooks and Blakely had two children, Henry and Nora (“Biography” 2). After the birth of their two children, Brooks began a teaching career (“Biography” 2).She started out teaching at Chicago’s Columbia College in 1963 this is where she received an honorary doctorate (Shuman 199). Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago State University, Columbia University, and the University of Wisconsin were all colleges Brooks taught in (“Biography” 2). During her teaching career, Brooks continued to write and publish many poems (“Biography”2). Brooks decided to stop teaching after suffering a small heart-attack in 1971 (Shuman
In 1953, Flannery O’Connor wrote “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” which turned viral and preemptive, due to a very controversial ending. Although Flannery lived only 39 years, she successfully made a name for herself as an American writer, publishing two novels and 32 short stories. Her southern gothic stories examined questions regarding morality and ethics, and featured flawed characters. Growing up in Georgia, she set out to highlight the sentimental nature of Christian realism, and although her stories were disturbing, she refuted the opinions of those who characterized her as cynical. In the last decade of her life, she wrote over a hundred book reviews, which were inspired by her religious Roman Catholic faith. She successively demonstrated her intellect, often confronting ethical themes from some of the most challenging theol...
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.