From Destruction To Salvation

Mary Flannery O'Connor (1925-1964), a Southern, Catholic writer who died young, is recognized as one of the best American writers of the 20th century.O'Connor's canon is small: two novels: Wise Blood (1952) and The Violent Bear It Away (1960); two collections of short stories: A Good Man Is Hard To Find (1955) and Everything That Rises Must Converge (1965). But she was awarded the O Henry Prize successively in 1957, 1963, and 1965. The Complete Stories (1971), which was posthumously published, containing all her short fiction-thirty-one tales, won National Book Award in 1972. It is her short stories that are well received by the readers and bring her reputation. Some of them, A Good Man Is Hard To Find, Good Country People, The Artificial Nigger and The Lame Shall Enter First have become the classical works of American literature.O'Connor lived a brief but substantial life: writing novels and short stories as well as raising peacocks. Her life was shortened by lupus, a disease inherited from her father. But she never gave up hope of life, which came from her religious beliefs, till the last minute of her life. O'Connor was so completely a lady of her religion that in her eyes, everything, including her illness, was related to it and religion was her eternal subject. All her works are about people who have lost their faith and the focus of the stories become the reintroduction of these people to the power of God and the power of God's grace, which is achieved in violent ways. Through her works, O'Connor tried to warn the modern people, who have fallen or are still indulged in their sins, to be finished with sins and return to God. But most of the readers and even some critics and reviewers only noticed her descriptions of violence and neglected her good purpose. She was regarded as indifferent, harsh or even brutal. Although her works encountered a lot of misunderstanding and criticism, no one can deny her excellent writing talent.This thesis aims to examine the religious views of Flannery O'Connor in her major short stories. The whole thesis is divided into five parts: an introduction, three chapters and a conclusion.Chapter one deals with O'Connor's religious views. The first part of the chanter isabout the typical pattern of her stories: an "invader" breaks the quiet and insensible life of the protagonist and puts him or her on the edge of death when he or she faces the choice of accepting or refusing the grace, which comes from God. The latter part focuses on her religious views shown in her major short stories about original sin, pride, the act of violence, the need of love and the fear of God.Chapter two has three parts, analyzing the formation of O'Connor's religious view from three aspects; family background, social background, and the scriptures of Holy Bible. Being a Catholic and living in the "Bible-belt", O'Connor was deeply influenced by her religion, which had become part of her consciousness. The attack of lupus only reinforced her religious beliefs and helped to form her unique religious views. The scriptures of Holy Bible that was very familiar to her also gave her a lot of inspiration.Chapter three discusses the values of O'Connor's religious views. The first part deals with the religious value. Her religious views show people the fearful side of God. Thus we can have a better and fuller understanding of Christianity. It enables people to see God from a new aspect of being a strict father, who punishes the sinners, rather than a doting one who always forgives all the sins. The second part analyzes the social value of her religious views. The spiritual world of the postwar American people has become a wasteland where the spiritual is decadent, the morals corrupt and the faith is lost. Nothing except material wealth dominates the whole world. The South, which has experienced the failure of the Civil War, is still more religious than other part of America but refuses to face the reality. It enjoys recalling the good time of the past. Through her stories, O'Connor forces t...