Flannery O Connor Research Paper

Flannery O’Connor’s works were known to be grotesque and often was very critical of humankind. However, she argued that her works were realistic, but that people refuse to accept reality when it is not ideal towards them. In A Late Encounter with the Enemy, O’Connor visits them flaw of man to believe a dishonest past, usually done to make oneself appear better and to spend life trying to keep the image of the dishonest past seem truthful. The general, who in reality was just a foot soldier, acted as though he had a better past, and was moments before death when he felt the past come back. “...the entire past opened up on him [the general ] out of nowhere and he felt his body riddled in a hundred places with sharp stabs of pain…” (O’Connor, …show more content…
The story begins with Mrs.Turpin, a judgmental character, who perceives herself to be the opposite. Because the story is written in third-person limited referring to Mrs. Turpin, the reader can “see” what Mrs. Turpin is thinking. Early on, she encounters a girl, instantly judged by Mrs. Turpin, though not said aloud. “Next to her was a fat girl of eighteen or nineteen, scowling into a thick blue book…” (O’Connor 4). Continuing on with her silent judgment, Mrs. Turpin thinks “The poor girl’s face was blue with acne and Mrs. Turpin thought how pitiful it was to have a face like that at that age.” (O’Connor 4). In turn, the girl scowls at Mrs. Turpin. After an in-depth analysis, the girl, Mary Grace, is a reference to Jesus and knows what Mrs.Turpin is thinking. O’Connor uses the biblical reference since, during the time her works were published, religion was a big part of life. O’Connor shows the hypocrisy of one saying they are not judgemental, just because one does not say it aloud. The flaw is shown by Mrs.Turpin judging those immediately. Similar to A Good Man is Hard to Find, O’Connor shows it is a flaw, by “punishing” the main character. Later into the story, Mrs.Turpin is still being hypocritical, and telling the dubbed, “ugly girl’s” mother how grateful she is, and how she always has a good disposition, which in this case, is ironic due to the consistent judgment in her head. …show more content…
The old lady in the story, has a deaf and blind daughter, making her also low-functioning because she was never educated. A stranger comes in and makes the offer to marry her daughter. Though it is family, the lady accepts, if not urges, knowing she will never see her daughter again. “Tears began to seep sideways out of her eyes and run across the dirty creases in her face. ‘I ain’t ever been parted with her for two days before,’ she said.” (O’Connor 5). O’Connor makes the old women have emotion, by showing her cry, however, the use of her saying she has never been parted with her, allows the reader to know, the daughter is not coming back. O’Connor shows the readers that one will give up a burden when given the first chance to. Similar to the other two stories analyzed, O’Connor hints at the flaw existing by slightly punishing the main character. As soon as the old lady gives away her daughter to Mr.Shiftlet, he does the same, leaving her in a truckstop diner. He starts to feel regret. He picks up a young boy on the street, that is symbolically Jesus, knowing what Mr.Shiftlet did. “The boy turned angrily in the seat. ‘You go to the devil!’ he cried.” (O’Connor 6). O’Connor shows the reader that this trait of giving up anything difficult is actually a flaw by “punishing”