Flannery O'Connor

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how Flannery O'Connor's literature has been described as grotesque, Catholic, Southern and even gothic and how her work has also been recognized for its harsh humor and criticism of the south. It looks at how much of her literature reflects the hostilities she experienced against racist southern attitudes, social structures and the southern ways of life. It examines how she employs a descriptive style, which is always effective in evoking the feel of the spoken southern language and how her subject matter typically deals with a breakdown in communication between a member representing traditional southern ideas such as strong and proud family attachments, identification with Southern history and nostalgia for the old plantation.

From the Paper:

"James A, Grimshaw, Jr. notes that O'Connor's short story "A View of the Woods" defines the grotesque by Christian terms. The grand father in the story is a man drive by his pride and vanity, which condemn him. The main conflict in the story is between the symbolic spiritual view of the world and the need for material progress. The grandfather can only see the world in terms of progress attributed to him. The family represents nature as they stand in the way of progress to protect the view. The final character, Mary, is his salvation or damnation. Grimshaw explains that O' Connor exemplifies this then Mary tells the grandfather that she is Mary-fortune-Pitts. Mary is the contrast in the story as she is the image of her grandfather, his miniature alter ego, and yet, she shares Pitts' appreciation for natural splendor. Thus, Mary balances the liter and symbolic interpretations of reality."

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