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Box # 108

Sandra Cash

Professor Bouchard

ENG 132

Paper # 4 Thoughts on Flannery O'Connor

February 12, 12012

Thoughts on Flannery O’Connor

Flannery O’Connor’s short stories seem to have a Christian message. For

example, in “Good Country People,” the message seems to be about hypocrites. Her

messages hit a nerve and make a person wonder if they are guilty of what she is saying.

Although her stories seem to be from a Biblical world view, her story “Everything That

Rises Must Converge,” seems to also be from a new historian lens.

In “Good Country People,” the Christian message seems to be about hypocrisy.

The character Manley Pointer shows this. When Manley Pointer is first introduced in the

story, he comes off as a good Christian country young man who is trying to make a living

by selling Bibles. An example of this is when Manley says this: “I want to devote my life

to Christian service.” (O’Connor, p. 177) In the end, Manley is far from being a good

Christian country young man. The reader finds out that he is a con man, who takes

advantage of Hulga. As Manley takes Hulga’s wooden leg, the story says also this:

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“…there were only two Bibles in it. He took one of these out and opened

the cover of it. It was hollow and contained a pocket flask of whiskey, a pack of

cards, and a small blue box with printing on it. He laid these out in front of her

one at a time in an evenly spaced row, like one presenting offerings at the shrine

of a goddess. He put the blue box in her had. THIS PRODUCT TO BE USED

ONLY FOR THE PREVENTION OF DISEASE, she read, and dropped it.”

(O’Connor, p. 184)

Manley turns out to be a hypocrite, which I think is the message O’Connor is trying to

show. Christians are not supposed to be hypocrites, but sometimes there are “Christians”

that do not act how Christians should act. Jesus warns us about hypocrisy in Matthew

23:1-9, saying this: “So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do

what they do, for they do not practice what they preach… ‘Everything they do is done for

people to see’…” (BibleGateway.com)

In the next story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” some people believe there is a

message about grace (eNotes.com). This would explain when the grandmother says,

“Why you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children!” (O’Connor, p. 196)

Throughout the story, the grandmother is judging everything and everyone. She continues

talking about how back in her day, the kids were respectful and how there are no good

people any more. Only at the end, when the Misfit is about to kill her does she realize that

she is just as guilty as everyone she was judging, including the Misfit who has murdered

people.

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Lastly, in “Everything that Rises Must Converge” the message is about loving one

another, no matter what their race is. This story has to do with the racial tension between

African Americans and Caucasians. Julian is very annoyed with his mother’s idea that

African Americans should still be slaves, and judges her for this thought. He judges his

mother, even though he is also racist in the sense that he only “tried to strike up an

acquaintance on the bus with some of the better types, with ones that looked like

professors or ministers or lawyers.” (O’Connor, p. 203) They are both racists toward the

African American’s, just in different ways. Julian’s mother does not like the fact that they

are now free and thinks they would be better off if nothing had changed, where Julian is

racist in the fact he only tries to make acquaintances with the better types, and he also

uses them to get his mother upset. The Bible says in Luke 10:27 “‘Love your neighbor as

yourself.’” (BibleGateway.com) Jesus commands us to love our neighbor as ourselves.

Later in Luke 10:29, a man asks, “who is my neighbor?”, and Jesus explains this by the

Parable of the Good Samaritan.

Although these stories are put in the Biblical world view, “Everything That Rises

Must Converge,” is also in the new historian lens. In 1965, when Flannery O’Connor

wrote this story, there was a lot of tension between African Americans and Caucasians. In

this year, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. lead 2,600 other blacks in a three-day

demonstration against voter-registration rules (Infoplease). This is just one of the few

conflicts that were going on between African Americans and Caucasians. In this sense,

O’Connor adds history, into “Everything That Rises Must Converge.”

Flannery O’Connor puts Christian messages into her short stories.

O’Connor seems to want to make Christians think if they are guilty of the messages she

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puts in her stories. For example, in “Everything That Rises Must Converge,” the message

seems to be about that we are to love one another no matter their race. Even though her

stores are in a Biblical world view lens, there is also a new historian lens. This is shown

in “Everything That Rises Must Converge,” in which she adds the racial tension that is

going on when she wrote this story.

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Works Cited

“1960 - 1969 World History.” Infoplease. © 2000–2007 Pearson Education,

publishing as Infoplease. 12 Feb. 2012

<http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0005251.html>

"A Good Man Is Hard to Find, Flannery O'Connor - Introduction." Short Story

Criticism. Ed. Margaret Haerens, Drew Kalasky. Vol. 23. Gale Cengage, 1996.

eNotes.com. 12 Feb, 2012 <http://www.enotes.com/good-man-is-hard-to-find-

criticism/good-man-hard-find-flannery-oconnor/introduction>

BibleGateway.com. Web. 12 Feb 2012. <http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?

search=Matthew 23:1-39&version=NIV>.

BibleGateway.com. Web. 12 Feb 2012. <http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?

search=Luke+10&version=NIV>.

O’Connor, Flannery. “Good Country People.” DiYanni, Robert. Literature:

Approaches to Fiction, Poetry and Drama. Madison: McGraw Hill , 2008. 79-86.

O’Connor, Flannery. “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” DiYanni, Robert.

Literature: Approaches to Fiction, Poetry and Drama. Madison: McGraw Hill ,

2008. 79-86.

O’Connor, Flannery. “Everything That Rises Must Converge.” DiYanni, Robert.

Literature: Approaches to Fiction, Poetry and Drama. Madison: McGraw Hill ,

2008. 79-86.

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