Daltin Smith
Mrs. Horn
English 11, 5th Period
January 28th, 2015
“To Gain Redemption” Redemption is not already possessed, it is gained. Redemption is the act of repenting for what sins you have done, and being saved/forgiven by God from sin. One of the main characters, Mr. Shiftlet, tries to show us how to gain redemption. Sadly he was too late and his method was not enough for what he had done. In the book “The Life You Save May be Your Own”, Flannery O’Connor uses symbols, imagery, and characterization to show that in the time of judgment, humans try to gain redemption from God before it is too late. Throughout the story there are many symbols that help lead to the idea of redemption. For example, O'Connor states that “his figure formed …show more content…
O'Connor uses the image of “The turnip continued slowly to descend” (O'Connor 867) to show this. The storm shows God's judgment coming down on Shiftlet for his actions. This judg-ment is happening as Shiftlet tries to right his wrong. Sadly Shiftlet does not accomplish gaining redemption, so the cloud continues to descend. “One such writer, Flannery O'Connor, frequently accused of writing in the vein of the grotesque and macabre, deliberately adopts the symbol of the tornado in an effort to hasten the ethical and spiritual regeneration of the morally bankrupt figures she often creates.” (Carson). Right before this storm shows up though, another image is created. Shiftlet finds a boy who is about to make the same choice he himself had made many years ago. And this is what he told that boy, “I never rued a day in my life like the one I rued then I left that old mother of mine.” (O'Connor 866). Sadly the boy just cursed him, which left Shiftlet grasping at air trying to gain …show more content…
One such characteristic is that he is “shady”, therefore, this means that he has had a mostly dark unfortunate/unknown past. One comment states that “where the blind don’t see and the lame don’t walk and what’s dead stays that way … the church that the blood of Jesus don’t foul with redemption.” (Motes, Hazel). His statement enlightens us to the fact that no matter what Shiftlet does that he will stay the same as he is, a sinful man. So no matter how hard he tries to repent or do right, he will never gain redemption from God. In some instances though O’Connor provides hope, “But while the Catholic writer generates a number of malformed characters representative of man's rejection of and corresponding estrangement from his creator, she also, in many instances, situates herself as a redeemer. Not simply content to sketch pictures of utter human tragedy and irreversible doom, O'Connor, a firm believer in the regenerative power of grace, usually extends a sinking character a lifeline. Despite the pessimism and doubt of her letters, she regularly proves, through her fiction, that she harbors hope for the unanchored human spirit. Symbolically, via the sacramental acts of communion and baptism, the otherwise ill-fated character can reclaim his life and in the process renew his relationship with God. The good in mankind, O'Connor insists, is simply "under construction," not lost forever (qtd. in
Mrs. Horn
English 11, 5th Period
January 28th, 2015
“To Gain Redemption” Redemption is not already possessed, it is gained. Redemption is the act of repenting for what sins you have done, and being saved/forgiven by God from sin. One of the main characters, Mr. Shiftlet, tries to show us how to gain redemption. Sadly he was too late and his method was not enough for what he had done. In the book “The Life You Save May be Your Own”, Flannery O’Connor uses symbols, imagery, and characterization to show that in the time of judgment, humans try to gain redemption from God before it is too late. Throughout the story there are many symbols that help lead to the idea of redemption. For example, O'Connor states that “his figure formed …show more content…
O'Connor uses the image of “The turnip continued slowly to descend” (O'Connor 867) to show this. The storm shows God's judgment coming down on Shiftlet for his actions. This judg-ment is happening as Shiftlet tries to right his wrong. Sadly Shiftlet does not accomplish gaining redemption, so the cloud continues to descend. “One such writer, Flannery O'Connor, frequently accused of writing in the vein of the grotesque and macabre, deliberately adopts the symbol of the tornado in an effort to hasten the ethical and spiritual regeneration of the morally bankrupt figures she often creates.” (Carson). Right before this storm shows up though, another image is created. Shiftlet finds a boy who is about to make the same choice he himself had made many years ago. And this is what he told that boy, “I never rued a day in my life like the one I rued then I left that old mother of mine.” (O'Connor 866). Sadly the boy just cursed him, which left Shiftlet grasping at air trying to gain …show more content…
One such characteristic is that he is “shady”, therefore, this means that he has had a mostly dark unfortunate/unknown past. One comment states that “where the blind don’t see and the lame don’t walk and what’s dead stays that way … the church that the blood of Jesus don’t foul with redemption.” (Motes, Hazel). His statement enlightens us to the fact that no matter what Shiftlet does that he will stay the same as he is, a sinful man. So no matter how hard he tries to repent or do right, he will never gain redemption from God. In some instances though O’Connor provides hope, “But while the Catholic writer generates a number of malformed characters representative of man's rejection of and corresponding estrangement from his creator, she also, in many instances, situates herself as a redeemer. Not simply content to sketch pictures of utter human tragedy and irreversible doom, O'Connor, a firm believer in the regenerative power of grace, usually extends a sinking character a lifeline. Despite the pessimism and doubt of her letters, she regularly proves, through her fiction, that she harbors hope for the unanchored human spirit. Symbolically, via the sacramental acts of communion and baptism, the otherwise ill-fated character can reclaim his life and in the process renew his relationship with God. The good in mankind, O'Connor insists, is simply "under construction," not lost forever (qtd. in