Flannery O’Connor, Author of two novels and three short stories and six other writings. Her writing is always full of imagery and she always does a wonderful job of painting a picture. “O'Connor completed "A View of the Woods" by the fall of 1956” (http://legacy.owensboro.kctcs.edu). “Flannery O'Connor's fiction confounds contemporary critics and readers with its combination of grotesque, violent imagery, and a deeply consistent, thematic concern with religion” ("Incarnational Art": Thing Theory). Her writings are praised throughout the country. Her work is known to be a bit on the violent side yet religious. Her short story A View of the Woods combined both of these elements. Full of symbolism, religion, gore, and family, this story
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O’Connor uses words such as “frigid” or “distant” or their even describes as plain (7). This description, although written by O’Connor, was described almost from Mark’s point of view. The woods are very symbolic for Mark. They represent his future, and the killing of his granddaughter and they even foreshadow his death. “and the gaunt trunks appeared to be raised in a pool of red light that gushed from the almost hidden sun setting behind them. The old man stared for some time, as if for a prolonged instant he were caught up out of the rattle of everything that led to the future and were held there in the midst of an uncomfortable mystery that he had not apprehended before. He saw it, in his hallucination, as if someone were wounded behind the woods and the trees were bathed in blood… . He returned to his bed and shut his eyes and against the closed lids hellish red trunks rose up in a black wood” (7). In this quote you can see the foreshadow of this granddaughter’s murder in the words “as if someone were wounded behind the woods and the trees were bathed in blood” (7), and then the foreshadow of his own death as it mentions “hellish red trunks rose up in a black wood” (7). As this relates to one of the last lines of the story, “the gaunt trees had thickened into mysterious dark file” (11). Another symbolic item that is …show more content…
The story was full of imagery and symbolism. One of her main characters, Mark Fortune, is faced with multiple struggles throughout the story, and each item, woods, land , and lake, symbolically stood for his struggles. Marks car also tended to be a symbolic item for him. It is mentioned many times throughout the story and plays a minor role in both Mary and Mark’s lives. This story pulled on your emotional string as well as your thoughts. O’Connor paints a very clear picture of a grandfathers love for his granddaughter gone wrong. The story is full of many twists and turns. It is a story you cannot put down. It is a story you cannot help but
O’Connor uses words such as “frigid” or “distant” or their even describes as plain (7). This description, although written by O’Connor, was described almost from Mark’s point of view. The woods are very symbolic for Mark. They represent his future, and the killing of his granddaughter and they even foreshadow his death. “and the gaunt trunks appeared to be raised in a pool of red light that gushed from the almost hidden sun setting behind them. The old man stared for some time, as if for a prolonged instant he were caught up out of the rattle of everything that led to the future and were held there in the midst of an uncomfortable mystery that he had not apprehended before. He saw it, in his hallucination, as if someone were wounded behind the woods and the trees were bathed in blood… . He returned to his bed and shut his eyes and against the closed lids hellish red trunks rose up in a black wood” (7). In this quote you can see the foreshadow of this granddaughter’s murder in the words “as if someone were wounded behind the woods and the trees were bathed in blood” (7), and then the foreshadow of his own death as it mentions “hellish red trunks rose up in a black wood” (7). As this relates to one of the last lines of the story, “the gaunt trees had thickened into mysterious dark file” (11). Another symbolic item that is …show more content…
The story was full of imagery and symbolism. One of her main characters, Mark Fortune, is faced with multiple struggles throughout the story, and each item, woods, land , and lake, symbolically stood for his struggles. Marks car also tended to be a symbolic item for him. It is mentioned many times throughout the story and plays a minor role in both Mary and Mark’s lives. This story pulled on your emotional string as well as your thoughts. O’Connor paints a very clear picture of a grandfathers love for his granddaughter gone wrong. The story is full of many twists and turns. It is a story you cannot put down. It is a story you cannot help but