Religion In Flannery O Connor's Good Country People

Flannery O’Connor devoted her life to Roman Catholic and attended mass daily while growing up, which influenced her endeavor greatly. Religion is correlated with God in many cultures. Religion plays an imperative role in O’Connor’s stories to give the characters a new meaning and purpose in life through the use of religion. Flannery O’Connor portrays foreshadow, irony, symbolism, and southern religious beliefs throughout many of her stories. Alongside incorporating grace as an element, her stories are usually drawn from the people around her and various readings she had done. O’Connor’s attendance at mass daily has a significant impact on her writing since she often uses references from devotion readings such as the bible. Religion figures …show more content…
O’Connor presents this in many of her stories, but it is best portrayed in “Good Country People.” In “Good Country People” by Flannery O’Connor, the salesman who goes from house to house selling a religious object known as the bible is actually not very religious. Furthermore, at the end of the story the readers come to find out that the man is actually a con man who only uses the bible as a way to steal items that are valuable to others. It can also be seen that when he opens his bible at the barn, there is a cutout in which he has his flask full of alcohol, from this it can be proven that though he knows many things are God and does sell a religious object, and is known to make people believe that he is a good person, especially Mrs. Hopewell. O’Connor presents that he indeed is just using god and his selfishness arise. Nonetheless, O’Connor does an impressive work displaying that humankind only thinks of God when they are in need or are willing to use the name of God to achieve their motive. The trait of giving the non-deserving people the religious belief is also displayed in another short story of Flannery O’Connor “Parker’s back.” Parker has always stayed away from any religious involvement, however when he is stuck in an accident which almost killed him, he goes above and beyond to get a tattoo of Christ with eyes on his back. Parker had never believed …show more content…
Through symbolism O’Connor presents the need of faith and also presents what can happen when death is about to take place. “One cannot deny that the concerns of this story are the basic concerns of Christian belief: faith, death, salvation.” (Bandy 1). O’Connor has a wide variety of symbolism throughout her work, however, not all of it is religious based, but it does have a significant meaning related to faith and death. The ones that are religiously based are mainly linked with Christianity. For instance, in “Good Man Is Hard to Find” she uses many different types of symbolism either related a general idea or a religious idea. “They passed a large cotton field with five or six graves fenced in the middle of it, like a small island” (O’Connor 712). This symbolizes that a tragic event is going to take place, due to the fact that there are six people in Bailey’s family, and there are six graves in the cotton field. This is also foreshadowing that keeps the readers engaged. Another symbolism in the story is “There was not a cloud in the sky nor any sun” (O’Connor 720). This symbolizes that the fate of the family has yet to be decided. The readers do not know whether the family will have a happy ending or a tragic ending. A religious symbolism that O’Connor does not forget to present in the story is “’I was a gospel singer for a while,’ The Misfit said”