Conversion experiences are quite common in the fiction of Flannery O’Connor. Many of her characters realize personal emptiness and seek fulfillment in Christian rituals, hoping to discover a loving God who is more accepting and caring than the people who… Read More ›
“Parker’s Back” is an account of a man who, having obsessively covered most of his body with tattoos, surrenders to an impulse to have Christ’s face inscribed on his back. The last short story that Flannery O’Connor finished, and one… Read More ›
As a devout Catholic, Flannery O’Connor felt her calling in life was to convert her readers through her stories. As with many of O’Connor’s stories, in “The Life You Save May Be Your Own,” readers must struggle to define what… Read More ›
By emphasizing intense archetypal imagery, Flannery O’Connor raises her short story “Greenleaf” to a complex level. O’Connor’s choice of symbolic names, her suggestion of mythological fertility cults, and her use of light and dark images all serve to raise the… Read More ›
Frequently anthologized, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” exemplifies Flannery O’Connor’s southern religious grounding. The story depicts the impact of Christ on the lives of two seemingly disparate characters. One is a grandmother joining her son’s family on a… Read More ›
In a memorable contribution to her stories that use the grotesque, Flannery O’Connor’s “Good Country People” ironically reverses the old saying that country people are good and its corollary, simple. Set in Georgia, the story features three women and a… Read More ›
As do many of Flannery O’Connor’s short stories, “Everything That Rises Must Converge” deals with the Christian concepts of sin and repentance. The specific sin O’Connor focuses on in this story is pride. As a Catholic, O’Connor considered this offense… Read More ›
Generally agreed to be one of Flannery O’Connor’s best stories as well as an excellent entrée to her work, “The Displaced Person” offers all the major hallmarks of the first-rate story. It first appeared in Sewanee Review in 1954. Echoing… Read More ›
The Artificial Nigger focuses on several themes that recur in Flannery O’Connor‘s (March 25, 1925 – August 3, 1964) fiction. It features tension between generations (an adult, Mr. Head, who is determined to prove his intellectual ability over a child);… Read More ›
Flannery O’Connor (March 25, 1925 – August 3, 1964) is uncharacteristic of her age. In writing about the pervasive disbelief in the Christian mysteries during modern times, O’Connor seems better suited to the Middle Ages in her rather old-fashioned and… Read More ›
Woody Allen is one of the most prolific artists of the twentieth century. He is a highly praised director and scriptwriter, a successful actor, a dedicated clarinettist, an appreciated playwright, and an awarded short fiction writer. His entire work testifies… Read More ›
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