Flannery O’connor’s Use of Symbolism, Theme, and Religion

Flannery O’Connor’s Use of Symbolism, Theme, and Religion In this essay I will be covering the similarities, differences, and uniqueness of theme in three of Flannery O’Connor’s short stories. The stories I will be discussing are A Good Man is Hard to Find, Revelation, and Good Country People. O’Connor was considered to be a type of religious propaganda. At least one character in her stories had a name or behavior that reflected religion. Her stories most often had an aggressive twist to them. The epiphany in her stories basically always arose from the violent and aggressive twist. In A Good Man is Hard to Find, the key word is â€Å"good.† It is also a part of the theme for this story. The grandmother uses â€Å"good† as a label for many things†¦show more content†¦They are used to reveal whether someone is a good country person or not. Mrs. Hopewell and Mrs. Freeman use the action of their eyes as if they were driving a truc k, when they watched Manley walk away with Hulga’s leg and leave her stranded in the loft. They used their eyes as if they were trying to run him over. Manley’s eyes were described as two steel spikes as he continued to glance at where Hulga’s leg rested. The major themes in O’Connor’s writings are the sky and weather, grace, disgust with the world, and glorification of the past. Her main symbol that she most often used was the characters eyes. In A Good Man is Hard to Find, the idea of there not being a sun or clouds in the sky was a clear forewarning of the family’s fate. The Misfit and the grandmother both mentioned neither a cloud nor sun was in the sky in this story during their confrontation. The sky is supposed to stand for openness to faith and the sun is a symbol of faith. In A Good Man is Hard to Find, disgust with the world is clear in the grandmother’s conversation with Red Sammy about trusting people. The grandmother stat es, â€Å"It isn’t a soul in this green world of God’s that you can trust.† This belief questions her Christian faith. In Good Country People, Mrs. Hopewell’s judgment of people whom she believes she can trust is a clear indication of her disgust with the world. Glorification of the past is present in A Good Man is Hard to Find through the grandmother’s characterShow MoreRelatedThe Life You Save May Be Your Own1122 Words   |  5 PagesWhat if you were given a chance to start over and do things differently? To make up for your mistakes, right your wrongs? This idea is featured as a theme in Flannery O’Connor’s short story â€Å"The Life You Save May Be Your Own†, published in the 1953 Spring issue of The Kenyon Review (Kenyon College). 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