Flannery O

A detailed Summary of Flannery O

Flannery was born on March 25, 1925 daughter of Edward F. and Regina L. O'Connor in Savannah Georgia. Her parents' only child she grew up in their Catholic home in Savannah until she was twelve (Baumgaertner 5). At age twelve her family moved from Savannah to Milledgeville, the town where her mother's father had been mayor for a number of years. In Milledgeville she attended Peabody High School and after graduation enrolled in the Georgia State College for Women (Whitt 6). These schools were both only a few blocks from Flannery's childhood home in the antebellum Cline House (McKenzie 38). After graduating from Georgia State College for women in 1945 with an A.B., O'Connor furthered her education by attending the University of Iowa. Her first short story 'The Geranium' was published at age 21 while attending school in Iowa (Liukkonen).

After receiving her Master of Fine Arts in Literature from the University of Iowa, O'Connor moved her life to New York. While in New York, O'Connor was able to publish her first Novel, Wise Blood. The first four chapters appeared in various magazines in 1948 and 1949. In 1952 the entire book was published. In 1978, long after O'Connor's death a screen

O'Connor freely acknowledged her Christian position as an author and often used her religion to explain the problems of the world. Her Catholic background shines through as the beliefs of the Catholic Church are increasingly present. Original Sin, judgment and revelation are highlighted throughout her stories. Most notably of these beliefs is revelation. O'Connor merges the emotional and ethical dilemmas of her characters with her Christian teachings and often this ends up with the character having a revelation of great proportions (Mueller 100). Her belief in God and knowledge of good and evil is at the heart of many of her stories. O'Connor felt that it was not possible for a writer who was truly Christian to write anything and not in some way reveal God (Baumgaertner 47). After experiencing agony the characters in her stories eventually find grace. The characters often times discuss grace and other theological topics (O'Connor 28).

O'Connor's works have been well accepted throughout the literary community by both Northerner and Southerner. O'Connor's stories visit the mysterious workings of the human soul and show how man's sinful nature leads to destruction. Her stories, filled with violence and religion are influenced by her beliefs and surroundings. Her works are interesting, entertaining and as Whitt has observed, "One is not likely to forget an O'Connor story, precisely because it is so strikingly, stridently different" (5).

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Approximate Word count = 1170
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: People