Flannery O Connor Symbolism

O’Connors steady use of symbolism helps demonstrate O'Connor's battle with her faith. In the story, as the grandmother sits in a steady halting manner, the rest of her family is lead to the woods. “Woods, tall and dark and deep, that gaped like a dark open mouth” (437). The woods appear to symbolize a place that would “hold the devil”, a place of evil. The woods are a relentless piece of nature as “the open mouth” devours the family before the astonished grandmother gets murdered. This leads readers to accept the fact that the grandmother was the only one who didn’t enter the forest of evil. O’Connor writes that only the grandma was praying, nobody else, making it appear as if because she prayed she didn’t have to die in a place of evil. Another …show more content…
In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady” (431). The hat symbolizes the grandmothers hoping for respect of a lady. When she gets in the accident the hat is destroyed, also destroying her dignity. How she will be perceived after she dies is a big part of who she is, and the respect she seeks. O’Connor wrestles with faith when she uses this situation to diminish the grandmothers conventional view of mortality. Which would be the complete opposite of what the bible leans toward. Symbolism also shows O'Connor's question among her faith when the grandmother is killed, after trying to convince the misfit that he is a good man, and the imagery provided for her death leaving readers to make a consumption. “Hiram and Bobby Lee returned to the woods and stood over the ditch, looking down at the grandmother who half sat and half lay in a puddle of blood with her legs crossed under her like a child’s and her face smiling up at the cloudless