Degree Year

1990

Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

English

Advisor(s)

Robert Longsworth

Keywords

Mother, Flanner O'Connor, Relationship, Parent

Abstract

Aside from the fact that most of Flannery O'Connor's works are set in the South where she lived nearly her entire life, her idiosyncratic characters and the consistently horrifying fates that they meet could not seem further removed from the widely accepted image of the author herself.l This image, instigated by her loved ones and perpetuated by critics, is of a witty, intelligent, and above all else devout Catholic who was stoic in the face of a crippling disease that cut her life short. Despite the limits placed upon her by illness. O'Connor is described as having been socially receptive while living a fairly retired life with her beloved mother, Regina Cline O'Connor, on their dairy farm where she raised scores of peacocks and other fowl as a hobby. The main determinant of O'Connor's literary personality and the most influential force affecting her writing has almost universally been acknowledged to be her staunch Catholicism. Much criticism of O'Connor's work reinforces this notion to such a degree that one might infer any study not dealing with O'Connor's Christian perspective to be inherently lacking.

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