The Female Consciousness Of Flannery O’Connor’s Short Stories

Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964), as a famous female novelist in Amereican literature, was regarded as one of the most important writers after World War Ⅱ. O’Connor died of systemic lupus erythematosus at the age of 39. In her short writing life, Wise Blood and The Violent Bear It Away Came Out, but her 31 short stories are more striking, especially A Good Man is Hard to Find. Her gothic style which is solemn and objective, religious themes and Southern Characteristic made a difference in Amereican literature.Most of critics in China and oversea are focus on three ways, because there are southern characteristic, religion and strong gothic style in works of O’Connor. In fact, it is a difficult thing for critics to neglect the feminist perspective in her works, as she was a female writer. O’Connor lived in a world that is full of feminist movement in full swing. As a female writer,she unconsciously poured her concern for the fate of the women in her works.O’Connor, with her objective stance and calm dispassionate strokes, showed the females spirit of revolt and self-reliance. O’Connor affirmed the challenge of females to male authority, and pointed out the dilemma of females survival and development clearly.By analyzing O’Connor’s short stories, this thesis explores her hidden female consciousness under cool style in her works. The thesis is divided into three parts to analyze unique female consciousness of O’Connor.In the first chapter, the thesis analyzes how O’Connor to show the female spirit of revolt and self-reliance. By analyzing the images of independent females and female intelligentsia respectively, which are two typical images of female in her works, the thesis deals with her expression in the females’realization of self-worth, the desire to communication and the demands of loving and being loved. At the same time, the thesis discusses how O’Connor to show females’struggle and resistance in the patriarchal society.In the second chapter, the thesis talks about O’Connor’s expression of disintegrating the male authority. It figures out three aspects of how O’Connor shape the male role:absence or dereliction of duty of fathers or husband, focusing exaggerating the male physical or mental deformities and the lack of masculinity. By analyzing the male characters in her mind, the thesis discusses the way of O’Connor to deconstruct the traditional male characters,and disintegrate the male authority.In the third chapter, the thesis interprets O’Connor’s concerns on females destiny and predicament of the development of female consciousness. Through the analysis of females survival status quo in O’Connor’s works, the thesis discusses about how O’Connor to expose the existence of women’s identity crisis and its cause. At the same time, the thesis focuses on the conclusion that females’dilemma comes from both the outside world and the inner world which was admitted by O’Connor. In order to explore the unique female perspective of O’Connor further,it is absolutely essential to analyze the way she expressed and the misunderstandings that it bring about.With the cold style and the coat of violence, O’Connor showed religious themes,southern regionality and female consciousness in her works. This style make O’Connor neither praise nor diminish to females. She calmly depicted their survival status quo on independent position objectively. Female struggles she showed in her works were multi-dimensional. In spite of taking the first step, it is a long way for females to break out of the quagmire of male authority.O’Connor had been focusing on females, had been sounding timely warning and always trying to put up the lighthouse for females in lost in her works. She struggled for the feminism in her own way.