The Grotesques In Anderson’s And O’ Connor’s Short Fictions: A Contrastive Study

Sherwood Anderson and Flannery O’Connor both occupy significant positions in Americanliterature, especially in the development of American grotesque literature to which they havemade indelible contribution. Respectively，Winesburg, Ohio and A Good Man Is Hard to Findand Other Stories have always been the subjects of critical reviews and scholarly attention,which have been studied by scholars from many exhaustive ways. However, among all theresearches on these two works, a contrastive study of the grotesque characters of the twoworks has seldom been attempted. Although both are dedicated to revealing social realitythrough the depiction of grotesques, their grotesques differ greatly in images and characters,evoking different emotional responses form the readers.This thesis aims to contrast the grotesques of the two writers from three aspects. First contrastis made concerning the dissimilar grotesque images in their works which have arouseddifferent psychological feelings from the readers. Second, analysis is made of the differencein causing the formation of their grotesqueness and of the solutions that are arranged for thegrotesque characters by the writers. Finally, exploration is conducted into the sources andmotivations contributing to the writers’ preference for grotesque characters. Through acontrastive study of the difference in grotesque images, causes of formation and solutions thatis presented in the two works, the thesis attempts to provide the readers with more insightsinto the grotesque literature and reveal the different sources that influence the two writers’creation and writing motivation, as well as the realistic significance they exert on modernsociety for being reread.