The Grotesque Female World In Flannery O' Connor's Short Stories

Flannery O'Connor(1925-1964) ranks among the foremost writers of fiction in Amereican literature.Her short stories have been acclaimed to be her finest work.With the publication of "A Good Man is Hard to Find," she came to be regarded as a master of the form.The critics in China and overseas have made considerable exploration of the themes in her stories related to religion,the shared characteristics of Southern literature,grotesque genre and violence,while neglecting the female world and the topics on women in her fiction.In fact,O'Connor creates many female images,most of whom are vivid and meaningful.Under the circumstance of patriarchal culture and patriarchal society,she has to choose to tell the truth which finds full expression in what is known as "grotesque." This thesis attempts to present the grotesque female world through an analysis of her female images so as to have a wider and better understanding of her works.This thesis begins with a brief introduction to O'Connor and her works,a sketch of the previous reseach on O'Connor before,indicating that the overlook of her feminine viewpoint is a misunderstanding and a limited comprehension.Chapter One analyzes silent and invisible females in O'Connor's short stories.Some of them are subordinate completely to the male authority;they have no voice of their own,and even have no names belonging to them;in males' eyes,they are in fact invisible;their identification is always related to their father,husband,even son.Chapter Two deals with the fate of a special group of women—widows.The lack of a husband enhances their misfortunes.Some of them,despite having names and voices apparently,are also marginalized by the male superiority;they are in fact powerless and inferior.O'Connor's attention to them reveals her concern about the fate of females.Chapter' Three probes into "deviating angels" including female intellectuals,a shrew,and a naive mother."The angel in the house" is the traditional female image in O'Connor's time,but under her pen,the angels are always deviating in a grotesque way.O'Connor's concerns about the deviating angles in fact is her subversion of the ideal female image in patriarchal society.In the conclusion,this thesis states that Flannery O'Connor uses her unique way to reveal a grotesque female world to the readers,in which man embraces hatred instead of love for each other and in which the relation between men and women is shockingly distorted.It sets the readers to thinking about the female's difficult existence and expresses O'Connor's concern about women's life and fate.