Flannery O’Connor’s Grotesque

1. Flannery O’Connor’s Grotesque

2. What is grotesque literature? • Combination of tragedy and comedy • Unsympathetic characters • Exaggeration and distortion • Physical deformity • A sense of irony • Highlights fears • Strong connection to Gothic literature

3. Other Grotesque Authors • William Faulkner • Southern author, like O’Connor, who wrote “A Rose for Emily” and Absalom, Absalom! • Sherwood Anderson • Wrote Winesburg, Ohio, with introduction entitled “The Book of Grotesque” • Joyce Carol Oates • Specialized in Gothic and horror stories, however grotesque characters often appear in her works

4. Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964) • Southern Writer from Georgia • Heavily influenced by Gothic literature • Most of her writing is categorized into the realm of “Southern Gothic” • Roman Catholic roots • Most of her grotesque characters are Protestants who undergo a transformation or a moment of “divine grace” that reveals their true nature.

5. “A Good Man is Hard to Find” • Grotesque character: the Grandmother • “In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead would know at once that she was a lady” (2569). • Shows aspects of tragedy in the idea of dying, but comedy in the fact the grandmother prepares for it • Moment of Grace: The grandmother realizes she knows the Misfit, she recognizes him as “one of [her] babies” (2578). • The moment of grace redefines the character, causing them to realize they are not perfect or even close to it • Fear of death, fear of strangers, fear of the mystery the Misfit represents

6. The Misfit • Is the Misfit another type of grotesque character? How could one apply the ideas of grotesque (tragicomedy, unsympathetic characters, exaggeration, deformity, sense of fear, moment of grace) to his character? • How does the grandmother’s realization affect our view of the Misfit? Do we feel pity for him as a character?

7. “Good Country People” • Grotesque character: Joy, also known as Hulga, a girl with a Ph. D. and a wooden leg • Deformity: • She has a wooden leg, thereby creating a physical distortion • She chooses to go by the grotesque name Hulga rather than her given name, Joy • She has a cruel spirit and believes herself smarter than others because she sees them as simple country folk

8. Physical Grotesque • Joy/Hulga’s physical deformity would cause the reader to sympathize with her, if not for her obvious disdain and cruelty to others. • Her physical malady echoes her mean nature, showing an exaggeration of how malformed she is on the inside. • The last part of the book is both comedic and tragic because of the boy who steals her wooden leg – we cannot help but feel sorry for Hulga, but at the same time she has not endeared herself in any way to the reader. • Who steals a wooden leg?

9. “Revelation” • Grotesque character: Mrs. Turpin • Deformity: • Mrs. Turpin is a “good” white Southern woman who believes that her economic status and skin color put her above others who are black or white trash. • She enjoys categorizing people into different social classes, and thanks God she is somewhere in the middle and not in one of the lower castes. • Moment of Grace: She has a vision of everyone she knows entering Heaven, only in true biblical nature, those she has put first in her idiotic categories are last, and those she saw as lower class are first.

10. Moment of Grace • Most of O’Connor’s grotesque characters are Protestants who undergo a transformation or a moment of “divine grace” that reveals their true nature. • This grace can be seen in Mrs. Turpin when she realizes how terrible a person she is and that her system of classification of races and classes is completely illogical and backwards. • She is a backwards Protestant in dire need of some Catholic intervention.