Out Of The Shadow As "Others": A Feminist Interpretation Of Flannery O’Connor’s Short Stories

Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964) occupies one of the most prominent positions inthe history of postwar American literature. In fact, she is identified today as one of thebest short story writers, especially with the publication of “A Good Man is Hard toFind,” she came to be regarded as a master of the genre. The critics in China andoverseas have made considerable exploration on the themes in her stories related toreligion, the shared characteristics of Southern literature, grotesque genre and violence,while neglecting the female world and topics on women in her fiction. In fact,O’Connor creates many female images, most of whom are vivid and meaningful. Thisthesis attempts to present the grotesque female world through an analysis of herfemale images so as to have a wider and better understanding of her works from afeminist perspective.In this thesis, the author divides O’Connor’s female images into three groups.Women in the first group are silent and invisible, identified by their “Other” role andtheir care of the males. This group of women is the traditional females in a patriarchalsociety. Women in the second group are special, for they are bullied widows. The lackof a husband enhances their misfortunes. Group three are the new images of females,who strongly resist the patriarchal culture that women are “the angel in the house”.Finally, the author concludes that living in a patriarchal society, females can notescape the fate of being hurt; therefore, women’s complete liberation depends on theirself-reliance and self-realization, only by carrying out these can females get out of theposition as “Others”. All in all, this thesis is an attempt at a feminist interpretation ofO’Connor’s short stories so as to enrich the scholarship in this field.