Violence in the Works of Flannery O’Connor
“First responses to O’Connor are invariably extreme. Forgetting about the stoning of St. Stephen or Herod’s slaughter of the innocents or even the cross itself, many first-time readers of O’Connor, knowing that she is a Christian writer, re puzzled by her grotesqueries and the violence of her vision. The problem is, of course, that most readers possess flimsy ideas about what is “Christian” literature and what is not” (Baumgaertner 19).
Flannery O’Connor was born in Savannah, Georgia. She was born and raised a country girl but also a strict Roman Catholic devoted to her beliefs. As a result of her religious upbringing and background, O’Connor wrote her short stories and novels in that same state of mind. “Flannery O’Connor’s religious faith engages the interest of nearly every critic or reviewer who considers her fiction. One is tempted to conclude that this interest arises from the fact that she is a Roman Catholic, since writers who happen to be twentieth-century Methodists or Presbyterians rarely provoke readers to consideration of their beliefs or the extent to which doctrines peculiar to their faiths are embodied in their fiction” (Martin 10). However, why does a religious women like herself use violence in so many of her works? “[O’Connor’s] narratives are built upon situations and characters usually beyond the experience of those whose line of vision seldom strays from their personal views of the normal world. Her readers and critics repeatedly call attention to the high incidence of the grotesque, revolting, and ugly features of her settings and characters and thus categorize her as a writer of Gothic Fiction” (Martin 152). Miss O’Connor, however, was not completely aware of these characteristics in her works (Martin 152). “’It never occurred to me that my novel…was grotesque until I read it in the papers’” (Martin 152). O’Connor did not approve of her works being considered as “Southern Gothic”. “She says that the use of these terms ‘conjures up an image of Gothic monstrosities and the idea of a preoccupation with everything deformed and grotesque” (Martin 153). “Implicit in her demur is the quite obvious fact that Gothic and grotesque are terms sufficiently broad in meaning to be more confusing than enlightening when used without qualification. Acknowledging this difficulty, at least one critic of Miss O’Connor’s fiction, Sumner J. Ferris, has refused to use the terms at all, contending that ‘Such vogue words as ‘decadent’ and ‘Gothic’ are so vague as to be almost meaningless.’ Even though confusion does exist, the terms clearly have meaning when correctly applied to Flannery O’Connor’s work; these qualities in her work are so extensive that one cannot ignore them nor circumvent them” (Martin 153). “The South has produced a number of writers whose work is rich in humor…” (Martin 189). “This humor has often depended upon regional peculiarities of dialect and customs and has shown a high incidence of grim humor arising from an essentially grotesque or revolting situation and calling forth a laughter that dwindles into stricken astonishment that pathos and horror should be funny. Flannery O’Connor’s humor extends these traditions and provokes laughter that is sometimes purely comic but often grim. In any case it is good-humored or corrective rather than brutal or mocking ” (Martin 189). Frederick Asals sees O’Connor’s violent …show more content…
Although Malin’s views do conflict with other critics, he firmly believes “the grotesque is the ‘poetry of disorder.’ It arises when traditional categories disintegrate” (Malin …show more content…
While O’Connor insisted that her subject is a struggle between grace and the devil, she describes the devil as ‘an evil intelligence determined on its own supremacy.’ Defined this way, grace works to overcome and dissolve a human will to supremacy, that is, the desire of individuals, nation states, religious and ethnic groups, etc. to achieve power and autonomy by dominating others” (Fowler).
It is widely known that Flannery O’Connor uses violence in her numerous works, however, critics cannot fully determine the main reason for this peculiar style of writing. Some believe she writes this way as a release of her own personal demons, but many others would argue the violence is a reflection of the people’s sin and how to surrender ones negative thoughts to ascend to
“First responses to O’Connor are invariably extreme. Forgetting about the stoning of St. Stephen or Herod’s slaughter of the innocents or even the cross itself, many first-time readers of O’Connor, knowing that she is a Christian writer, re puzzled by her grotesqueries and the violence of her vision. The problem is, of course, that most readers possess flimsy ideas about what is “Christian” literature and what is not” (Baumgaertner 19).
Flannery O’Connor was born in Savannah, Georgia. She was born and raised a country girl but also a strict Roman Catholic devoted to her beliefs. As a result of her religious upbringing and background, O’Connor wrote her short stories and novels in that same state of mind. “Flannery O’Connor’s religious faith engages the interest of nearly every critic or reviewer who considers her fiction. One is tempted to conclude that this interest arises from the fact that she is a Roman Catholic, since writers who happen to be twentieth-century Methodists or Presbyterians rarely provoke readers to consideration of their beliefs or the extent to which doctrines peculiar to their faiths are embodied in their fiction” (Martin 10). However, why does a religious women like herself use violence in so many of her works? “[O’Connor’s] narratives are built upon situations and characters usually beyond the experience of those whose line of vision seldom strays from their personal views of the normal world. Her readers and critics repeatedly call attention to the high incidence of the grotesque, revolting, and ugly features of her settings and characters and thus categorize her as a writer of Gothic Fiction” (Martin 152). Miss O’Connor, however, was not completely aware of these characteristics in her works (Martin 152). “’It never occurred to me that my novel…was grotesque until I read it in the papers’” (Martin 152). O’Connor did not approve of her works being considered as “Southern Gothic”. “She says that the use of these terms ‘conjures up an image of Gothic monstrosities and the idea of a preoccupation with everything deformed and grotesque” (Martin 153). “Implicit in her demur is the quite obvious fact that Gothic and grotesque are terms sufficiently broad in meaning to be more confusing than enlightening when used without qualification. Acknowledging this difficulty, at least one critic of Miss O’Connor’s fiction, Sumner J. Ferris, has refused to use the terms at all, contending that ‘Such vogue words as ‘decadent’ and ‘Gothic’ are so vague as to be almost meaningless.’ Even though confusion does exist, the terms clearly have meaning when correctly applied to Flannery O’Connor’s work; these qualities in her work are so extensive that one cannot ignore them nor circumvent them” (Martin 153). “The South has produced a number of writers whose work is rich in humor…” (Martin 189). “This humor has often depended upon regional peculiarities of dialect and customs and has shown a high incidence of grim humor arising from an essentially grotesque or revolting situation and calling forth a laughter that dwindles into stricken astonishment that pathos and horror should be funny. Flannery O’Connor’s humor extends these traditions and provokes laughter that is sometimes purely comic but often grim. In any case it is good-humored or corrective rather than brutal or mocking ” (Martin 189). Frederick Asals sees O’Connor’s violent …show more content…
Although Malin’s views do conflict with other critics, he firmly believes “the grotesque is the ‘poetry of disorder.’ It arises when traditional categories disintegrate” (Malin …show more content…
While O’Connor insisted that her subject is a struggle between grace and the devil, she describes the devil as ‘an evil intelligence determined on its own supremacy.’ Defined this way, grace works to overcome and dissolve a human will to supremacy, that is, the desire of individuals, nation states, religious and ethnic groups, etc. to achieve power and autonomy by dominating others” (Fowler).
It is widely known that Flannery O’Connor uses violence in her numerous works, however, critics cannot fully determine the main reason for this peculiar style of writing. Some believe she writes this way as a release of her own personal demons, but many others would argue the violence is a reflection of the people’s sin and how to surrender ones negative thoughts to ascend to