Flannery O’Connor’s Famous Stories Research Paper

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Nowadays it is practically impossible to find a person who does not read books, especially those of modern literature. It is present by the diversity of writers and poets whose masterpieces provoke so many different opinions, contradictory points of view and critical articles. It is the usual state of affairs as everything in this world changes and these changes always mean something new and interesting. Among a great number of modern writers there is an author who attracts the readers’ attention by her comic short stories, which are always interesting and original. Current paper is connected with the art and some stories of Flannery O’Connor. It is hard to argue that she is an unusual and sometimes even mysterious writer. Her thoughts are reflected in the works, which later become the object of studying and lively discussions. The achievement of Flannery O’Connor’s works lies in the so-called balance amid the practical and the anagogical. Looking at the morbidly Catholic state of mind that is the necessary reason sustaining the short stories of Flannery O’Connor, it is necessary to pay attention to the special techniques that compose her style of writing. “What is really important in the style of O’Connor is her manner to employ the character viewpoint in the story” (Gooch 46). Despite of the fact that it is performed in the way that even if the omniscient narrator employs a certain point of view of the character while depicting some events, the reader can observe the effect which is more like a mirror rather than advocate. The most interesting feature of O’Connor’s short comic stories is the usage of comic names and unusual characters that make them peculiar and exciting while reading.

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The first novel by O’Connor that is worth discussing is Good Country People. As many other works of the author Good Country People touches upon the topics of good against malevolence, the opportunity of deliverance attained by means of facing the violence, and some stupidity of intellectual pretensions. This story is about a young girl Hulga Hopewell and her stolen wooden leg. During the novel, Hulga suffers for herself as she lost the leg, wears spectacles, and has some problems with heart. Nevertheless, this is able to put herself on top of the rest of her society due to her education. Hulga is a very unusual person as she looks for the methods to be misunderstood by the family and states that she believes in nothing. It may seem that she lives another life, not as usual people and believe in things, contradict the reality. This girl considers herself too ugly to bear the name Joy, so she made up her mind to change the name in to Hulga. It is not occasional that the name ‘Hulga’ has some similar sounding with Vulcan. Throughout all her life the girl was closed inside the boundaries, having no right to say anything changing the name was like the outbreak of Vulcan. One more very interesting issue is her surname, Hopewell. Probably, giving her character such a name O’Connor wants to show that even such people live by their hopes for happy and light future. Other characters of the story with funny names are Hulga’s sisters, Clynese and Carramae:” Well? Glynesse is a fine girl, “Mrs.Hopewell said. “Glynese and Caramae are both fine girls…” (O’Connor 73). The most remarkable thing is that their names are closely connected with their fortunes. Glynese is a redhead, beautiful girl with a great number of admires, and Caramae is a small funny girl, being pregnant at the age of fifteen. She is associated with the candy.

Another O’Connor’s short story that is worth discussing is Good Man is Hard to Find. The author in her manner describes life of the main character and his complicated relationships with other people and surrounding. This novel provokes vivid discussions, as some critics consider it to be a black comedy, because of the using of funny names and some funny episodes, while others suppose it to be pessimistic tale, describing human meanness and manipulation. But still, there is an opinion that Good Man is Hard to Find is an inspiring description of the way God works under persons according and against their will. Probably, this novel has all the above mentioned features, in any case the final decision is up to the reader. Like the rest of the stories, this one has its own inner sense, elaborated by the author by means of using funny names, unusual characters and placing them into different situations, which finally move them to the truth of life. For example, by means of the character Misfit, Flannery tries to discover the idea of Christian grace, a pardon from God. In this story, The Grandmother, foolish and small-minded woman, realizes the essence of the Misfit only at the death moment. “What is the most peculiar for this story is that the grace of God is a power outside the character, a moment of epiphany” (O’Connor 7). But unfortunately, these characters are too stupid to realize this truth.

Revelation is the last story that will be discussed in the paper. This story touches upon the problem of prejudice, racial distinctions and attitude of people to those of another race and social status. “There were, for her, too, the ignorance and prejudice that not only the South struggles with- but which O’Connor never overlooked. No matter her sallies…” (Robillard 300). The characters of this story are recognized by substantial distinctiveness and some of them are recognized by some racial peculiarities. Moreover, of the main character of Revelation, Mrs. Turpin, is really prejudiced and uses some words from the racial jargon. Mrs. Turpin is the bearer of funny name, which have the similar sounding with stupid, despite of the fact that she is well-educated and intelligent person, but her behavior and attitude to other people disclose her real nature. Another opposite character is Mary Grace, which author associates with God’s grace that people realize and accept through passing some difficulties in their lives. The words of Mary may be regarded as the words of God, as the idea of Christian grace is the strong concept of her stories.

The works of Flannery O’Connor are undoubtedly interesting as they describe unusual characters as well as deep social and cultural problems. Reading her stories one realizes that they are not simple words, but also the reflection of the author’s inner state and soul. They are religious, honest and funny, as O’Connor created them on the basis of her own ideals and perception of life.

Works Cited

Gooch, Brad. Flannery: A life of Flannery O’Connor. Los Angeles: Black Bay Books, 2010. 464. Print

O’Connor, Flannery. A Good man is hard to Find: stories. Boston: Women’s Press, 2001. 256. Print

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O’Connor, Flannery. The Habit of Being: Letter of Flannery O’Connor. New York: Farrar, Straux and Geroux, 2004. 624. Print

Robillard, Douglas. The Critical Response to Flannery O’Connor. New York: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004. 317. Print

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IvyPanda. 2021. "Flannery O’Connor’s Famous Stories." December 18, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/flannery-oconnors-famous-stories/.

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