Flannery O'Connor

Paper Summary:

Flannery O'Connor carried out extensive edits on her 1946 story, "The Geranium, arriving at a version entitled, "Judgement Day," which was published in 1965. This paper looks at how the story retains the bare bones of "The Geranium" in terms of characters and setting, but shows how the revised ending reflects changes in social convention and black/white race relations.

From the Paper:

"In "The Geranium," published in 1946, the arrival of the neighbor underlines a diametric shift in black/white relationships. The white Southern gentleman becomes a helpless, useless child led by the arm to safety by an intelligent, benevolent, and worldly black neighbor. In "Judgement Day," published in 1965, the interaction is sinister. The white Southern gentleman, similarly incapacitated, suffers the rage of a black man, angry at being confronted yet again with what he regards as proof of old Southern prejudice-taunts of "idiot," "coal man," and "preacher"-and extracts his own revenge or judgement; he forces the man's arms, legs and head through the banisters in a fashion reminiscent of confinement in medieval stocks-a punishment designed to bring public shame and humiliation on the victim."

More papers on Flannery O'Connor:

• Comparison Essay # 71219 : "Flannery O'Connor and Alice Walker"
• Analytical Essay # 33793 : "Irony in the Works of Flannery O'Connor"
• Book Review # 119068 : "Flannery O'Connor"
• Analytical Essay # 7728 : "Flannery O'Connor: "A Good Man is Hard to Find"

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