Introduction
Mary Flannery O’Conner was an American fiction writer, novelist, and famous essayist born on 25 March 1925 in Georgia, USA and was the only child of Edward F. O’Connor and Regina Cline (Desmond, pp. 97-111). With her abilities and skills to write well and impressive, she proved herself as an amazing religious believer whose body of fiction stories presented her souls’ struggle towards religious knowledge. The 20th century witnesses her as the best storywriter for short stories who would mainly focus upon themes of religion and the life of Southern. A range of reviews and commentaries with 2 major novels and 32 short stories were the successful productions of her that were exceptional in their own. Flannery was mainly famous for her Southern Gothic style with her work reflecting her Roman Catholic base. By nature, she was an extremely shy and reserved person but she was in direct contact with the world. Not only this, she was a person with exceptional interests such as raising peacocks and chicken just for fun.
Until 1938, Flannery was living in Savannah when finally her family moved to Milledgeville where she continued her school in Georgia State College for Women (GSCW). When she was enjoying her teenage, her father left her due to severe disease named as systemic lupus erythematosus. That was the time when she shattered and felt completely lost. Since the childhood, she had been very sharp minded, smart, with her intelligence showing evidences in following years of her life (Emerson, 2002). Life was challenging but she had the ability to overcome its difficulties. However, since childhood, Flannery started to reflect abilities and literary talent due to her writing and interests she became capable of publishing her work for schools. GSCW gave her a chance to show her bright work and she started to work as campus cartoonist and editor of school magazine. Her skills of cartooning allowed her to work for college yearbook, newspaper of campus, and the walls of student lounge. Flannery was a gifted girl with extra ordinary attributes through which she produced fiction, comedy, and horror work. While her studies she took science as her majors but chose various courses of English as well.
In 1952, she wrote a novel ‘Wise Blood” which was her first publication of novel while studying. Her characters in the novels would relate to religion and mostly about preachers of different types. Adopting the theme of religion and reflecting her own Catholic religion one could understand her closeness and love for the religion (Zenter, 1998). She would think according to what her religion would teach her. She would herself get an idea about right and wrong only through how religion would teach her and would covey same messages to others. Her work was very mature and even the thesis of her master’s degree work was a collection of her stories that were admired hugely. Each one of the people who were associated with her found out that her work was a connection of language and beliefs.
Working on the similar themes, she continued to bring various types of collection of short stories (Johnson, 2000). Her work would relate to reality and whatever she would write, it was based upon life’s facts and realities. Her detail would keep the attention of a reader until he would finish and that was the magic of her work. She knew what could interest people and as a result, she paid attention to those aspects that were important to be shared and taught to people. Her themes and subjects of stories were not without purpose. Consistency and detail were her specialty no matter the story was all about horror that people may get fear of but hardly resist to know in follow up. Accepting her as a pure Christian writer, her stories would solely revolve around the life of a Christ. Her narration, mode, plot everything was so much in detail that one would feel to be in the story and the character of that. One could conjure the images and the story to be unfolded. That was something an attribute of a good writer that when the readers read story he feels lost in its characters and wholly becomes a part of it.
Flannery knew that story writing was not a simple matter and in order to make it accept to the people, she had to portray work of different genre. She discovered the guidelines upon which her work based and then found out high concepts (Wood, pp. 321-329). The height and clarity of her concepts was in form of good expressions, high degree of originality, and most importantly a high and obvious emotional focus. She knew that with unique elements she had to focus upon entertainment value so that the story is appealing to audience. Therefore, her work was perceived as new, innovative, and fresh to others. The reader would take an interest strongly, intensely, and immediately, enjoying the emotions such as fear, joy, sadness, hate, rage, and love.
Her fictional stories were all full of moral vision and the characterizations were vibrant. Her work was not just based upon her own creations but she also took support of various experts and professionals of writing such as Caroline Gordon, Paul Engle, Andrew Litle and many more who were considered exceptional in their own. Her discussion in novels and stories were all placed in the country and farm in which she resided. Usually she focused upon a middle class woman who was responsible for her worldly affairs, leading life on her own. The characters in her stories were strong and sharp personalities who had better ideas of life, nature of the world, and themselves. They had the ability of explore the world, establish their ideas, and move accordingly in life. It is a battle of their ideas about how life and world give them the chances and change their views. In other words, it is about the difference between how they perceive the world to be and how actually the world is. In addition to that, author focuses upon the characters of how their opinions and perception prove invalid and false and then life takes turns.
The themes of her stories and novel witness the difference between two opposing parties (Nash, pp. 130). One portrays the characters that believe in modern and secular world, which is full of science, progress, humanism, and social programs. On the other hand, there is spiritual world centered on God that is mainly about wrongdoing and salvation. This is the pattern that she followed in her almost each story but the situations and characters all varied in each story. Moreover, Flannery wrote various stories that based upon the characters that were willing for change, revolutions, enlightenment, and transformation. This means that she conveyed the message from her writings to the whole world that life is not about remaining stagnant and in order to pursue it successfully one needs to stand, take actions, move progress, and bring good changes that are not only necessary for own life but for entire society and entire world. Such thinking is witnessed in her stories such as “Parker’s back” and “A temple of the Holy Ghost.”
Adding to her work and bringing diversity, Flannery O’Connor thought to write about races as the important subject to write. In her stories named as “The Artificial Nigger,” she discussed two characters who were inhabitants of North Georgia and visit Atlanta. During their visit, they meet African Americans for the very first time and thus come to know about racism and its associated issues and facts.
Time passed by and Flannery kept giving her fans amazing work of writing and proving her literary talent. A short life of only 35 years was not without troubles. Life was smooth and productive time was at its peak when Flannery caught a dangerous disease named as Lupus (Mobley, 2003). The incurable disease was only curable through steroid drugs that have their own disadvantages. First year attack was controllable but it forced her to move back to Milledgeville on a permanent basis. The interruption started in 1950 and since then she survived to stay at her hometown in Georgia. Flannery was living very quietly in her family farm, which was located in Andalusia. Even then, she did not stop her love of writing and with time to time would write something. A devoted and one of the most prolific writers, Flannery kept in touch with the literary world by sending regular letters to her most closing people such as Caroline Gordon, Fitzgerald, and Robert Lowell. Most importantly, Caroline Gordon supported her to a great deal in writing Flannery’s first novel. She also understood the love of younger writers who were keen to take her suggestions and wanted advices. While battling from her disease and working upon her novel, she even received awards including O. Henry.
Conclusion
In 1964, O’Connor got her surgery that brought no improvement but worsened her situation. Following months were troublesome and she went to comma. Having no recovery she finally died on August 3, 1964. O’Connor was an extremely disciplined and prolific writer who devoted herself throughout her life and even in the last years of Lupus in combining her skills and providing good work to readers. Love towards God was reflected in her amazing work, which led to various awards. O’Connor’s abilities and talents were not confined to creative writing but she was good at painting too and even painted her own portrait that attracted many, adding her dearest peacocks. No one can imagine that Flannery was a quiet person who did not like politics and was hardly interested in Civil Rights movement. However, through her writing she tried her level best to convey meaningful messages, importance of religion, and the essential elements of life and world. Her literary and spiritual attempts brought her to a very high level where few famous authors of the world stand.
Work Cited
Desmond, John F. "Stalking Joy: Flannery O'connor And The Dangerous Quest." Christianity & Literature 60.1 (2010): pp. 97-111.
Downes, Lawrence. "In Search of Flannery O'Connor." New York Times, Late Edition (East Coast) ed.: 0. Feb 04 2007.
Emerson, Bo. "Flannery's World: Soon, Visitors can Tour the Middle Georgia Farm Where Acclaimed Author Flannery O'Connor Lived, Wrote and found Inspiration." The Atlanta Journal - Constitution: 0. Sep 16 2002.
Johnson, Greg. "Flannery at 75 36 Years After Her Death, Savannah-Born O'Connor Remains Georgia's Finest, most Controversial Writer." The Atlanta Journal the Atlanta Constitution: 0. Mar 19 2000
Mobley, Chuck. "Viewing a Writer's Private World; Flannery O'connor Home Plans Expansion of Artifacts, Hours." Savannah Morning News: 0. Sep 21 2003.
Nash, Charles C. "Flannery: A Life Of Flannery O'connor." Library Journal 133.20 (2008): pp. 130.
Wood, Ralph C. "Flannery O'connor's Witness To The Gospel Of Life." Modern Age 47.4 (2005): pp. 321-329.
Zenter, Joe. "Flannery O'Connor: An Irish American Literary Giant." Irish America Apr 30 1998: 94.
