Flannery O’Connor’s short story, “The Lame Shall Enter First”, was first published in 1965. . “The Lame Shall Enter First” is a story of a widowed man raising his 10 year old son shortly after his wife died. Like many of O’Connor’s stories, it is a tale of characters with handicaps or life changing injuries. Disturbingly, the most handicapped person in this story is the father, Sheppard. His handicap ultimately and chillingly injures his very own young son. Sadly, this book is an example of "The people who are likely to cause us harm of any sort are likely going to be people we know," review author Deborah South Richardson, a psychology professor at Georgia Regents University, explained to The Huffington Post. "It's not the strangers we need to fear."
This disturbing story is told from the view point of Sheppard, widowed for more than a year, and left to raise his ten year old son, Norton. Both are struggling to cope with the grief of this loss, but Sheppard seems incapable of recognizing and responding to his son’s feelings and believes they …show more content…
This young blonde haired, blue-eyed boy is being silently critiqued by this father, Sheppard. Sheppard is mutely speculating his aspirations for his son. A successful career for Sheppard’s son, Norton, isn’t a priority. Sheppard’s priority for Norton is that “all he wanted for the child was that he be good and unselfish and neither seemed likely.” As the reader prepares for a litany of negative and destructive behavior by the son, there are only normal examples of behavior of a10 year- old boy. The examples include ketchup on chocolate cake, inability to empathize at an adult level and a tearful, emotional outburst about the death of his mother. Sadly, these normal reactions only fuel a heartless, callous and angry belittling from Sheppard. But what would the reader expect from a father that thought his own son “was not bright enough to be damaged much”
This disturbing story is told from the view point of Sheppard, widowed for more than a year, and left to raise his ten year old son, Norton. Both are struggling to cope with the grief of this loss, but Sheppard seems incapable of recognizing and responding to his son’s feelings and believes they …show more content…
This young blonde haired, blue-eyed boy is being silently critiqued by this father, Sheppard. Sheppard is mutely speculating his aspirations for his son. A successful career for Sheppard’s son, Norton, isn’t a priority. Sheppard’s priority for Norton is that “all he wanted for the child was that he be good and unselfish and neither seemed likely.” As the reader prepares for a litany of negative and destructive behavior by the son, there are only normal examples of behavior of a10 year- old boy. The examples include ketchup on chocolate cake, inability to empathize at an adult level and a tearful, emotional outburst about the death of his mother. Sadly, these normal reactions only fuel a heartless, callous and angry belittling from Sheppard. But what would the reader expect from a father that thought his own son “was not bright enough to be damaged much”