O’ Connor’s Influences and Inspirations before Her Death

2064 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Personal experience as a writer

O’ Connor’s Influences and Inspirations before Her Death
Like every author, before begins to write a story or novel. The author needs to have a structure from which to build a good story or novel. Most writers will prefer to use their personal experiences as the start of their structure, while other authors may prefer to write about current events that they are experiencing in their lives. Flannery O’Connor was born at Savanna’ St. Joseph’s Hospital and raised in Savannah Georgia, where she became obtaining her inspirations as a writer. O’ Connor’s parents, Regina Cline O’ Connor and Edward Francis O’ Connor, both came from Roman Catholic families (Connie 3), which will help her build a strong religious faith that would stay with her all of her life. Based on her personal experiences, O’ Connor become building a strong Catholic background, which obtained an enormous impact in her short stories. O’ Connor’s stories are mostly influenced to her personal life, as she believed, it would be easier for the readers to see and understands her personal life.
O’ Connor life had a significant change, when she attended High School; O’ Connor Stared writing and drawing Cartoons for the School Paper (Flannery). Her cartooning experiencing would have a profound effect on her style of writing. Even though she relocated in Milledgeville she continues attending Christian Schools, because her parents were strong Roman Catholics. Sadly in her early teenage years, the doctors eventually revealed that she was suffering from lupus erythematous, the same disease that killed her father Edward Francis O’ Connor. Instead of decay for her illness, she decided to push the new challenges she had on her way and focused first of all on her educ...

... middle of paper ...

...oughout her short stories making valid her point of view about religion.

Work Cited
Gooch, Brad. Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor. New York: Little, Brown and,
2009. Print.
Kirk, Connie Ann. Flannery O'Connor: A Literary Reference to Her Life and
Work. New York: Facts On File, 2007. Print.

DiYanni, Robert. Literature: Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Boston:
McGraw Hill, 2008. Print.

"Emory to Unseal Flannery O'Connor Letters." Emory to Unseal Flannery O'Connor
Letters. N.p., 23 Apr. 2007. Web. 5 Dec. 2013.

"Biography." Biography. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Dec. 2013.

Flannery O'Connor Quotes." Flannery O'Connor Quotes (Author of The Complete
Stories). N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Dec. 2013

"Flannery O'Connor Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 07
Dec. 2013.

Show More
Related

  • Relationships in Good Country People, by Flannery O'Connor

    2362 Words  | 5 Pages

    Asals, Frederick. Flannery O'Connor : The Imagination of Extremity. University of Georgia Press; Reissue edition. Athens, Georgia, 2007.

    Read More

  • Flannery O Connor Research Paper

    1546 Words  | 4 Pages

    Flannery O’Connor was born on March 25, 1925 in Georgia. She was the only child to her parents, Edward and Regina O’Connor. Two years away from Flannery’s adulthood , her father passed away due to a rare disease, lupus. At the time of her father’s death O’Connor was in Milledgeville, Ga. It can be inferred that she was able to cope up with her father’s death very soon as she didn’t speak of his death much and also resumed to be an active part of her high school’s extra-curricular activities such as painting, English club and also band. A year after her father’s demise she graduated from high school and enrolled herself in Georgia State College to do major in English and sociology. It was during this period that she adapted the name ‘Flannery’. After getting bachelor degree from college she relocated to Iowa City where she attended University of Iowa and also applied for a job as teacher within the campus of her university. In the year of 1947, she eventually obtained her Masters degree in the field of Fine Arts. In spite of the fact that she obtained her Masters degree in 1947, her first work, “The Geranium” was published a year before that and it was just the dawn of her fame. It was merely an origination of the classics that followed later on. Lupus was genetically acquired by O’Connor from her father. Things were going well until end of 1950 in which she was struck by a severe lupus attack. O’Connor was determined about her writing and thus , even such a huge attack didn’t divert her attention off her passion of writing. There was no looking back for her as she kept on publishing her works. In point of fact , it was only after her attack, she produc...

    Read More

  • Flannery O Connor Grandmother

    1168 Words  | 3 Pages

    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).

    Read More

  • Flannery O Connor Compare And Contrast Essay

    1099 Words  | 3 Pages

    In her short stories “Revelation” and “A Good Man is Hard to Find” O’Connor is able to convey the oppressive and hypocritical attitudes of a Southern woman in the post civil war era. Through the actions of her characters The Grandmother and Mrs. Turpin O’Connor suggests that the that the people who can’t let go of the past are the members that are a true detriment to society. By using character foils and religious references Flannery O’Connor is able to truly portray the regressive attitudes of many Southern women like Mrs. Turpin and the

    Read More

  • Religion in the Works of Flannery O'Connor

    1982 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Irony and Foreshadowing in Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find

    1618 Words  | 4 Pages

    Nadal, Marita. "Temporality And Narrative Structure In Flannery O'connor's Tales." Atlantis (0210-6124) 31.1 (2009): 23-39. Fuente Académica. Web. 1 Nov. 2013.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Dark Humor In A Good Man Is Hard To Find

    865 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • What Are The Elements Of Southern Gothic Literature

    1294 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Anna Freud: A True Child Advocate

    1550 Words  | 4 Pages

    During her early years, according to Dyer, (1983) Anna worked at the Cottage Lyceum with third, fourth and fifth graders. Anna was asked to sign a contr...

    Read More

  • Flannery O Connor's Essay On Her Own Work

    835 Words  | 2 Pages

    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?

    Read More

  • We Have Always Lived In The Castle Mary Katherine Essay

    1211 Words  | 3 Pages

    Early on the reader is aware that Mary Katherine thoughts are unusual and eccentric for a girl her age. Mary Katherine was brought up as upper class in a small village, living with her family until their sudden death. With only her Uncle and

    Read More

  • Kate Dicamillo Biography

    388 Words  | 1 Pages

    Kate DiCamillo was born on March 25,1964 in Philadelphia-Pennsylvania. However, due to her chronic pneumonia, Kate DiCamillo’s family move to Florida. Kate DiCamillo was the youngest daughter of a teacher (mom) and an orthodontist (dad). Nonetheless, her dad abandoned the family when they came to Florida with the promise that he will arrive later. Naturally, Kate spent most of her days on bed due to her chronic pneumonia. She learnt to love reading, for it was a good way to keep herself entertain. As Kate states in Scholastic.com, “I learned early on to entertain myself by reading. I learned to rely on stories as a way of understanding the world”

    Read More

  • The Use of Violence in Flannery O'Connor's Stories

    1198 Words  | 3 Pages

    Whitt, Margaret. Understanding Flannery O’Connor. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1995. 47-48, 78. Print.

    Read More

  • Southern Gothic Literature

    947 Words  | 2 Pages

    Web. . Margaret, Whitt. Understanding Flannery O’Connor . Ebook.

    Read More

  • Formalist Criticism

    1204 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...sque, and in Flannery O’Connor’s artistic makeup there is not the slightest trace of sentimentally” (qtd. in Bloom 19). Flannery O’Connor’s style of writing challenges the reader to examine her work and grasp the meaning of her usage of symbols and imagery. Edward Kessler wrote about Flannery O’Connor’s writing style stating that “O’Connor’s writing does not represent the physical world but serves as her means of apprehending and understanding a power activating that world” (55). In order to fully understand her work one must research O’Connor and her background to be able to recognize her allegories throughout her stories. Her usage of religious symbols can best be studied by looking into her religious Catholic upbringing. Formalist criticism exists in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” through Flannery O’Connor’s use of plot, characterization, setting, and symbolism.

    Read More

More about O’ Connor’s Influences and Inspirations before Her Death

Open Document