Deconstruction And Construction-the Religious Consciousness Of O'Connor's Works

Flannery O'Connor is an American writer who is regarded as the most prominent one after Faulkner by American literature.She was born in Georgia,a state locates in the south of America,which was deeply influenced by Christian-ism;as a pious catholic,her works are usually surrounded by a shroud of mystery and rich in relitious instructions.O'Connor had created a variety of sinners in her works by purpose;she attempted to disclose the inanity in Americans in the south during the period of social transformation,and conveyed her expectations for the development of the South in the future.In this paper,my mainly focus is on the religious consciousness behind O'Connor's works.And I will try to analyze several factors affecting O'Connor's view of religion in details,from the aspects of the geographical region,her family,and her privacy,and to argue the contradictions in her works,to unearth two elements within her books: deconstruction of religion and construction of religion.O'Connor was very familiar with the Bible,so she showed us the sense of sin “Human is born guilty” in her books.The sinners shaped by O'Connor were from real images at that time,and they didn't realize their sins at the very beginning.In O'Connor's works,these people will be awakened by violence and death,and eventually will come to realize their sins and embrace God.Undoubtedly,as an absolute devout catholic,O'Connor had a deep comprehension of life and religion,and maintained a firm belief that the only salvation for men is to convert to God.However,to reflect the unique spirit of intellectuals,O'Connor didn't mechanically install the Catholic dogma in her works,but deconstructed the it thoroughly.Also in O'Connor's works,the blind worship of religion,the religious extremists and fanatics,those infidels are vividly revealed and rebuked.What's more,O'Connor tried to disclose the sacred and arcane veil of religion.But she didn't mean that she had adopted the idea of pagan idolatry,neither dare to transcend the all mighty God.In addition,via the premature death of children caused by social and living circumstances,O'Connor analyzed and deconstructed the image of the Son in the Christian incarnation.She discussed that the Son was a sanctified image of human beings,and a pre-existing spirit transcending good and evil rather than a profane and abnormal icon distorted by society.Meanwhile,O'Connor censured people's scornful and arrogant attitudes towards God and smashed their values into pieces through the precise portraits of southerners who were in pursuit of faith.If we pay attention to the contradictions in her works,we will find that O'Connor brought about a different idea to cognize God from a denying aspect of “What God Isn't” instead of “What God Is” for southerners and the whole American society that were struggling in religious belief at that time.She made religion an approach to cognizing the world and a spiritual power to help people to reflect and adjust their way of living.O'Connor reminded people of the meaning of their existence,brought God's teachings to those who were lost,and called for people's self-examination about their value and fate.Supported by the religious belief,O'Connor viewed the south of U.S.as her frontier and fort to spread God's institution and dedicated to write articles to teach people the Grace and the Salvation of God.O'Connor's works are not only a reflection of the loss of religious faith in the south,and a debate upon the loss of humanity both in Americans and all human beings,but also a deep thought and concerning about the imbalance of modern life and traditions.