Analysis Of Mary Flannery O Connor's Short Stories

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Flannery O’Connor once said “All my stories are about the action of grace on a character who is not very willing to support it, but most people think of these stories as hard, hopeless and brutal.” Mary Flannery O’Connor was born on March 25, 1925, in Savannah, Georgia. She was the only child. O’Connor was born in a catholic family. When she was 13, her father died of Lupus. From her childhood, she showed great interest in writing. Her style is best described as “Southern Gothic” (Licciardi, 2). O’Connor mostly uses religion, violence, and realistic settings in most of her writings.
Religion is one of the most important aspect of her writing style. O’Connor’s religious writing style is not too common in literature, this is what makes her unique and well known writer. O’Connor’s short stories demonstrate the religious beliefs of the characters, as their lives
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O’Connor usually chooses to write about the south because it is the area of the country she knew the best. She often writes stories that are set in the south in which characters are given opportunities for grace and divine forgiveness. An example of southern setting would be O’Connor’s short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” the story takes place in Georgia. During a family trip to Florida, the grandmother insisting upon stopping in Tennessee. The grandmother insistence on seeing the old home is the remembrance of a better time, and how great the south once was. Another perfect example of this would be the short story “Revelation,” In this story, Mrs. Turpin is a southern woman who is full of pride. The fact that the Turpins’ make their living by running a farm is the first clear indication that we are dealing with mainly rural area of the country. The fact that the radio is playing “gospel music” helps locate the story even more in the south (382). The reference to other characters as “white-trashy” makes a southern setting more

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