A Study Of Illness And Healing In Flannery O’connor’s The Complete Stories

Mary Flannery O’Connor,being acclaimed as the most outstanding short-story writer in the 20 th Century,is a preeminent female writer,winning O.Henry Award for short stories three times.With her own experience of suffering from lupus erythematosus,she creates all kinds of characters suffering from various diseases in The Complete Stories.Previous scholars are merely absorbed in studying the characteristics of her disease writing,and the relationship between personal experience and social environment in order to explore the meanings of illness writing in her works.In view of O’Connor’s experience of illness and in light of theories of illness narrative,this thesis conducts a case study of the sick roles in her short stories,analyzes the problems of bodies reflected by the illness of different characters and their body-self choices,and digs out the operating mechanism of their bodies.Secondly,based on the illness metaphor,it studies the relationship between illness and society.The illness mirrors the morbid society and racist ideology in the American South.Then,this thesis explores O’Connor’s mode of the quest narrative behind the illness and its aesthetic significance.Seeking the therapeutic ways,O’Connor and her creation aim at achieving the effect of self-treatment and healing others.Illness writing is not only the art of her aesthetic rationality but also a tool for her emotional expression and rational understanding.She connects personal suffering with self-expression needs,disease with identity,writing with healing,revealing the metaphors of the illness and expressing her humanistic concern for the future spiritual outlet of mankind.The study on illness and healing deepens the readers’ understanding of the plight of the ill,increases people’s perception of illness,enlightens the real life experience,and displays O’Connor’s precious virtue as a Christian and her philanthropic views toward all sufferers.