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    181 views5 pages

    Oconnor Readings

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    896 Crea Casebook FLANNERY O’CONNOR on WRITING FFennery0'Conner at ner mashe’s Gaorgla farm where she raised poacacks: 1952 Excerpt from, "On Her Own Work": The Element of Suspense in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” 1963, a 7 eae isa oa one. I ca think, though ‘that like che Greeks you should but since experience has taught me to keep my expectations along these lines mod- Florida, gets wiped our by an escaped convict who calls himself the Misfit. The family made up of the Grandnothes and her sn, fulJone Star and the baby, and theres also leis naned Pity Sing, ond the Geansmothe ake ‘Now [think it behooves me tou ex son operates inthis ory Mach of Beto car ofthe unressrabl, tog the esonab] tppcens. The serio tht el 7 +s, These are asst veal Chistian myster sulionce takes exce than my own in which His story could be = have heen written. Belief, in my own case an tion operate “The heroine of this story, the Grandmnor lik ofers the Caaristian, She is facing death. 2 of us, is not too Well prepared for it. She wot definitely, ive talced toa numer of teachers who seudents that she Grandmother is evi, chat in (ne ofthese teachers told me that his ssadent resisted chit interpretation with a ceruin be voy [had to tll him chat they resisted ic bee ‘aats just Ike her ar home, and they knew, iy lacked comprehension, bur that che had okrant of those weaknesses that proceed fro: for elt- preservation can be really combined ‘This same teacher was calling his stxde cats above the Grandmother. He had a reall But then a proghet gone wrong is almost a ‘mother, and you have to let people take thei Te is true thar the old lady isa hypocritic: ‘Miss, nor is hee capacity for grace equal to will feel that che Grandmother has a special Stinetively we do not allow to someone altog often ack myself what makes 2 stary wo sud I have decided that itis probably some a Unlike any other in the story, ne which indic Tis would have to he an action or a gesture ‘mnexpectod it would have ta be one that was iwould have to suggest boes the world and e shout would have te be on the anagogical lev the Divine life and our participation in it. It ‘eat allegory thar might have been intended ‘make. It would bea gesture which tomehow 1 ‘There isa point in this story where such lasealone, facing the Mist. Het head clesrs£ limited way, chat seis respomatble forthe uo kinship which have their zoots deep in d toa so far. And ar this pot, she does INOR ow WRITING 1k”: The Element of ard to Find” caccessfully tess patephrase, unless it hangs you analyte to enjoy, but it’s equally true ‘a, you have tn have enjoyed already, and T {/soad is hat ie should simalate chet priwacy 1963 ing an Aeschylus oF Sophocles and providing ience out of your mythic background, though Js up a good deal ofthe South's myihic back- degre of pity ancl terror, even though its way nk, though, that lke the Greeks you should tory to thae any element of suspense init will Trendy read i, happice stil you knew it well, iEeep my expectatiors along these lines mod fa family of sx which, on its way driving t0 snivit who calls himself the Mise. The family Fannary connor on wit: 397 ismade up of the Grandmother and her son, Bailey, and his children, John Wesley bed June Star and the baby, and chee is also the cat and the children's mother. Tbe. otis named Pity Sing, and the Grandmother is taking him with them, hidden in a Tasker "Now L think it behooves me to try to establish with you the basis ont which rea son opecates in this story. Mach of my fetion takes its character from a reasonable tse ofthe unseasonable, though the reasonableness of my use of it may not always be [pparen The assumptions that underlie this use of it, however, are those of the cen tual Chistian mysteries, These are assumprions to which a large pat ofthe moder. tudience takes exception. About cis Lcan only say that there are perhaps otter ways than my own in which this story could be read, but none other by which it could have been written. Belief, in my own case angway, isthe engine that makes percep- tion operate "The heroine of this story, the Grandmother, is in the most significant position life offers the Christan. She i facing doath. And to all appearances she, like the rest of us, I not too wel prepared for it. She would like to te the event postponed. In- definitely Te tale eo a number of teachers who use this story in class andl who tell tele sudenrs tae the Grandmother i evi, that in fac, she's a witch, even down to the cat. (One of these teachers told me thar his stadents, and particularly bis Southern stents, rested this interpretation with a certain bemused vigor, and he didn’t understand. ‘wb. had to tell him thac they rested t because they all had grandmothers or grat: Sunt just like her at home, and they knew, from personal experience, that the old Indy lacked comprehension, but that she bad a good hear. The Southemer is usually tolesnt of those weaknesses that proceed from innocence, and he knows thst a taste foc el preseevation can be readily combined with the missionary spt. "This same teacher was eelling his suicents that morally the Misc was eoveral ceuts above the Grandmother, He had a ceally sentimental attachment to the Misi But chen # propher gone wrong is almost always more interesting than your grand smother, and you have to let people take their pleasures where they ind them, Teis true thatthe old lady isa ypocsitical old soul her wits are no match for che Mist's, nor is her capacity for grace equal to his; yet | think the unprejudiced reader will feel that the Grandmoehee hss a special kind of trump in this story which in- stinetively we do act allow to someone altogether bad, Toften ask myself what makes a stoey work, and what makes tt hold up.as a story, and | have decided that its probably ome action, some gestureofarcharacter that is Unlike any other inthe story, one which indicates where the real heart f the story le, This would have to be an action ora gesture which was both totally right and toll unexpected; it would have to be one that was boc) in character and beyond character, It would have to suggest both the world and eterniry. The action or gesture ['m alleng sdbout would have to be on the anagogical level, thats the level which has to do with the Divine life and our participation i i, Ie would be 2 gesture that transcended any peat allegory that might have been intended or any pac moral categories a reader coud make, It would be a gesture which somehow made contact with myer? “There fsa point in this story where such a estore occurs. The Grandmother isa lascolone, icing the Mise, Her head clears for an Instant and she realizes, even i hee lente way, that she i esponsible for the man before her and joined to hi by ties of [kinship which have theie roots deep in the mystery she has been merely pratting about so far-And at thie point, she does the sight thing, she makes the right gesture. 398. cial casebook | find that suadents are often pusled by what she eaye and does here, bat I think rmyeelf that if| took out chis gesture and what she says with it I would have no story. ‘What was left would not be worth your attention. Our age not only does not have very sharp e7e forthe almost imperceptible intrusions of grace, it no longer has much feeling forthe 2 the violences which precede and follow them. The devtls {greatest wile, Baudelaire has sai, isto convince us that he does not exis: supose the reasons for the use of<0 much violence in madera ferion il difer with each writer who uses i, hue in my own stories I have found that violence is -srangely capable of resurning my characters to reality and preparing thems to accept their moment of neir heads are shard that almost nothing else will do the work. This idea, that reality is something to which we must be returned at consider able cos, is one which is seldom understood by the casual reader, but itis one which is implici in the Christian view of che werld [don't want to equnte the Mist with the devil, [prefer to think that, however unlikely chs may seem, the old lady's gesture, like the mustard-eed, will grow to be & reat crow-flled cre in the Misfit’ heart, and wall be enough ofa pain to him to turn him into she prophet he was meant to become. But tha's another stry. ‘This tory has been ealied grozesque, but ] prefer to cal literal. A good story is Uireral in che same sense thara child's drawing i literal. When a child draws, he does- n{Cintend tw distort but vo sec down exactly what he sees, and as his gare is tect, he sees the lines thar create motion. Now the lines of motion that interest (he wrler ate usvally invisible, They ate lines of spieitzal motion. And in this story you should be fn the lookout for such things a the acticnrofprave in-the-Grandanathes's soul, and not forthe dead bodies, ‘We hear many complaints hour the prevalence of violence in modem fiction, and it is always assurmed that this violence isa bad thing and meant co be an end in itself, With the serious writer; violence is never-an ead in itself. Fr ip ehe-exteme situation that best reveals what we are essentially, and I believe these ate times when writers are more interested in what we are esentially than in the tenor af our daily lives. Violence i e force which can be used for good or evil, and among other things taken by iis the kingdom of heaven. But regardless of what can be taken by it che san in the violent situation reveals those qualities least dispensable in his personal inp, those qualities which are all he will have to take into ecernity wich him and since the characters in chis story are all on the verge of exami, itis appropriate to think of what they take with chem. In any case, T hope that if you consider these points in connection wich the story, you will come to see it as something more tan an account ofa family murdered on the way to Florida. From "On Her Own Work’ On Her Catholic Faith 1955 1 write the way I do because (not though) I am a Catholic. Tas isa fact and nothing covers I lke che bald statement. However, I am a Catholic peculiarly possesed of the modem canscloussiess, the thing Jung describes ss unbistrical, solitary, and uit. To possess this within the Church is tn beara burden, the necessary burden for the conscious Catholic I's to feel the conteraporazy situation ac the ultimate level. think that the Church i the only thing thet is going co make the rerible world we are coming to endurable; the only ching that makes che Church endurable is chat itis ow the by of Chit and ta ont hom fact em the Church as fr it fe to ches he wor at ee cme on Mpa he ack of biremess he Foma! sonebt ‘Excerpt from "The Grotesque in Fre devious Writer and the Tired “Trove writer eo een fo and witht Teo and gace han hove wh pal a car eo cl ny Call

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