The Gross and Grotesque in Flannnery O Connor

A detailed Summary of The Gross and Grotesque in Flannnery O Connor

The Gross and Grotesque in Flannery O'Connor

Flannery O'Connor is known for her regional, Christian, gothic, grotesque writing. We see all these elements in her short stories. Flannery O'Connor's fiction generates strong reactions because of her use of the gross and grotesque. According to Gilbert Muller, "Flannery O'Connor began writing about the grotesque because she could, and she readily admitted it in a letter to James Farham. O'Connor explained, Essentially the reason my characters are grotesque is because it is the nature of my talent to make them so" (21).

I think that Flannery O'Connor uses the grotesque in her writing because it shocks readers and makes them realize the moral point she is expressing. I feel that the application of the grotesque comes from her religious background and viewpoints. However, it is not just a gothic view of the grotesque. There is also a touch of humor in her writing. I think she mostly uses grotesque aspects to demonstrate the diminished state that her characters are in and how far they have to go for redemption. Muller states that, "Flannery O'Connor was successful in character depiction because she realized that the gr

to look it in the face and find our own grinning reflections

I have discussed many ways in which Flannery O'Connor uses the gross and grotesque in her writing. I believe O'Connor uses this form of writing to startle the audience, and to get her point across. Not only does she use the grotesque to astound, but she also uses it for its comical effect, and for the melodramatic effect. I do not feel she uses the grotesque, as many gothic writers do, for a purely evil or demonic effect. I believe she uses the grotesque in a religious sense to show how degraded her characters are, and how far they must go to achieve redemption.

the almost blind you draw large startling figures"

According to David Eggenschwiler, "O'Connor uses the grotesque in Hazel Motes as a contrast to the Christian humanistic position she assumes throughout her work (103). Eggenschwiler states that Hazel Motes' attitudes are not only extreme and violent but they are morbid and "Manichean" (103). He also states that O'Connor uses several other characters in different stories with these same characteristics of the grotesque such as, Sarah Ruth in "Parker's Back" and Mrs. May in "Greenleaf"." (103). It is my belief that Flannery O'Connor uses the grotesque most of the time to make her readers take notice. She wants the reader to see the extreme and bizarre actions her characters exhibit. Society and/or religion usually oppress her characters. She also uses the grotesque to show the transformation her characters must make for redemption. It also helps the reader to see that the characters are whom they hate. They usually do not realize this until it is too late.

An example of O'Connor's use of the grotesque to shock and to show the characters reformation is in her story "Greenleaf." In "Greenleaf" one grotesque moment is when the bull gores Mrs. May, and his horns pierce her heart. Mrs. May in "Greenleaf" "stares straight ahead but the scene in front of her changes and she had the look of a person whose sight has been suddenly restored" (Flannery O'Connor's The Complete Stories, 333). Mrs. May's violent death showed her need for salvation and redemption. According to Muller, "Mrs. May is forced to meet the extremities of her nature when she is gored by the bull" (84). Mrs. May dies in the story, but not before her eyes have been opened and her sight restored. According to Rath, Sura and Mary Neff Shaw, "the central sin in O'Connor's stories is not seeing the violent visionary moment but instead allows the sinner (Mrs. May) to see herself in relationship to God" (42).

real look when we look into the face of good, we are liable

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