O’Connor in Context
(Explanation of Literary Devices)
“The Author is Dead!”:
The Formalist Perspective
• Formalists emphasize the form of a literary work to determine
its meaning, focusing on literary elements such as plot,
character, setting, diction, imagery, structure, and point of
view.
• Literary works are independent systems with independent
parts.
• Formalist subordinate biographical information or historical
data in their interpretations.
• The central meaning of a work is discovered through a detailed
analysis of the work’s formal elements, rather than by going
outside of the work to consider other issues, whether
biographical historical, psychological, social, political, or
ideological.
“The Use of Force” (1553-1555)
By: William Carlos Williams
• How does the story begin and end? How does the
language change?
• Contrast between opening matter-of-fact objective
description and including shift of perspective and
heightening of language.
• How are the character’s inter-related? Is their a
conflict between any two characters? Explain.
“The Use of Force” (1553-1555)
By: William Carlos Williams
• From what perspective is this story told? From what
point of view? How might the story be different if
the author had chosen a different point of view?
Flannery O’Connor
(1925-1964)
• Born in Savannah, Georgia in 1925
• Graduated from the Women’s College of Georgia in
1945
• She earned a reputation as a cartoonist for the campus
newspaper.
• She earned an M.F.A in writing from State
University of Iowa in 1947
• She was struck with disseminated lupus at the age of
25.
Flannery O’Connor
(1925-1964)
• Because of her illness, she was forced to move back
to Milledgeville, Georgia
• She lived and published her fiction from Georgia
until her death in 1964.
• She often employs humor, irony, and paradox within
a system of Christian belief in evil and redemption.
• She is best known as a social satirist and a religious
writer.
O’Connor Groups
• Read pages 169-172 in your Literature book.
• Summarize the main points of each subsection
(Southern Gothic, The Catholic Dimension, and
O’Connor’s Irony).
• Write three main points for each section in the form
of bullet points.
Southern Gothic
• The South is the “material” (setting & characters) for
her works
• She writes within the Southern Gothic Tradition.
• Engaging, violent, and frequently grotesque characters
who are treated with colloquial (involving or using
language) humor.
• Truth was of the greatest importance.
The Catholic Dimension
• 2 Main Influences on her writing:
• 1) The South 2) Catholicism
• Wrote concerning universal themes
• Meaning of Life centered upon redemption by
Christ
• Not just a religious writer; her style of storytelling
made her writing appealing to non-Christians
O’Connor’s Irony
• A comic protagonist indulges in fantasies of moral
or social superiority or has a false sense of the
certainty of things.
• An ironic and traumatic encounter with other
characters forces the protagonist towards the
realization that the universe is incomprehensible and
terrifying.
• Though her life was brief and plagued by illness,
O’Connor’s talents were acclaimed during her
lifetime.
What is epiphany?
• A character’s sudden insight, which forms the
climax of the story. (It is often labeled as a plot
device)
PSAT Prep
•
Before Karen Chin’s research, scientists assumed
that the value of evidence preserved in the fossils
called coprolites was too ______ to warrant the
effort of _______.
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Unpredictable… transformation
Superlative… examination
Conventional… eradication
Relevant… synthesis
Dubious… analysis
PSAT Prep
•
Greta praised the novel for its _______, claiming it
depicted reality so vividly that it seemed more like
fact than fiction.
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
transcendence
romanticism
impenetrability
loquacity
verisimilitude
“Good Country People”
(pgs. 172-185)
• Who are the primary characters?
• What perspective and point-of-view are used?
• What is the conflict throughout the short story?
“Good Country People”
Experience Questions
• What was your initial response to the story’s title?
Did your impression of “good country people”
change as you read it? Why or why not?
• How did you respond to Hulga’s loss of her artificial
leg? Why?
“Good Country People”
Interpretation Questions
• What is the relationship between Mrs. Freeman and
Mrs. Hopewell? To what extent are their names
significant? What does the name change from Joy to
Hulga suggest about Mrs. Hopewell’s daughter?
“Good Country People”
Interpretation Questions
• What kinds of observations about life and people do
Mrs. Freeman and Mrs. Hopewell make? How do
the two women see themselves in relation to other
people?
• What does Hulga learn about herself and about
other people through her encounter with the Bible
salesman?
“Good Country People”
Evaluation Questions
• Which, if any, of the characters does O’Connor
seem to admire, and whom does she satirize?
• What religious values are evident in the story? What
does O’Connor suggest about these values?
“Good Country People”
Final Discussion Question
• What do you think of O’Connor’s satire of the
characters in “Good Country People”? Is her
satirical treatment of these characters justified? To
what extent is a writer justified in using satire as an
artistic weapon?
“A Good Man is Hard to Find”
(pgs. 186-196)
• Who are the primary characters?
• What perspective and point-of-view are used?
• What is the conflict throughout the short story?
“A Good Man is Hard to Find”
Experience Questions
• Did you enjoy the opening section of the story? hen
did your perception of the kind of story you were
reading change- if it did?
• How did you respond to the Misfit’s behavior? To
his speech?
“A Good Man is Hard to Find”
Interpretation Questions
• How does O’Connor characterize the grandmother?
What do we learn about her from her conversation
with the Misfit? What do we learn about him?
What is his favorite saying, and what sense do you
make of it?
• How do you explain the story’s title?
“A Good Man is Hard to Find”
Evaluation Questions
• What religious qualities or elements emerge in this
story? How, as the Misfit says, has Jesus “thrown
everything off balance”?
• In what sense could the grandmother have been a
good woman if, as the Misfit says, there was
“somebody there to shoot her every minute of her
life”?
“A Good Man is Hard to Find”
Final Discussion Question
• Why do you think this has been one of the most
frequently anthologized and most often written
about of O’Connor’s stories? Provide examples to
support your opinion.
“Everything That Rises Must
Converge” (pgs. 197-207)
• Who are the primary characters?
• What perspective and point-of-view are used?
• What is the conflict throughout the short story?
“Everything That Rises Must
Converge” (Experience)
• What were your initial impressions of Julian and his
mother? Did these impressions remain consistent or
did they change?
• To what extent does you experience with racial
prejudice parallel that depicted in the story? To
what extent does it differ?
“Everything That Rises Must
Converge” (Interpretation)
• What is the significance of the name Godhigh?
How does Julian’s attitude toward his ancestors and
toward the Godhigh family home reflect the central
conflict of the story?
• What is the significance of Julian’s mother’s
response to the black woman’s hat? What is the
significance of Julian’s response to his mother’s
behavior?
“Everything That Rises Must
Converge” (Interpretation)
• What is the meaning of the story’s concluding
action and dialogue?
“Everything That Rises Must
Converge” (Evaluation)
• What principles and beliefs guide Julian? What
principles or beliefs does his mother live by?
• Whose values, if anyone’s, does the story seem to
endorse? What values are satirized?
“Everything That Rises Must
Converge” (Final Discussion)
• Offer two different explanations for the meaning of
the story’s title, “Everything That Rises Must
Converge.” Why “everything”? Why “must”? In
what sense might things be said to “converge”?