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University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan TH~ LITERARY DEVICES in the WRITINGS OF , ---- 69-5422 BREWSTER, Rudolph Allen, 1916- THE LITERARY DEVICES IN THE WRITINGS OF FLANNERY O'CONNOR. \ . ... East Texas State University, Ph.D., 1968 Language and Literature, general University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan TH~ LITERARY DEVICES IN THE WRITINGS OF FLANNERY 0 1 CONijOR ·by RUDOLPH ALLEN BREWSTER ,. Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of East Texas S tate University in partial.. fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR -OF PHILOSOPHY August, 1968 THE LITERARY DEVICES IN THE WRIT!NGS OF FLANNERY OI CONNOR . Dissertation Approved: t e School • ' \ ' ~ ABSTRACT THE LITERARY DEVICES IN THE WRITINGS OF FLANNERY O'CONNOR Rudolph Allen Brewster, Ph.D. East Texas State University, 1968 Adviser: Dr. James M. Lacy Purpose of the Study: This dissertation proposes to s h ew that by the use of certain literary devices, Flanne r y O' Connor has achieved a high degree of critical success while at t h e same time maintaining that man's one hope of escape from the over­ whelming problems of modern life is through his redemption in Christ, Procedure: Each of the followi ng litera ry Qevices will be discussed in the dissertation: alleg ory, symbolism, tbe g ro­ tesque, irony, humor, and diction. Each device will be ex­ amined by a detailed explication of its use in Miss O' Connor ' s r - two novels, twenty-three published short stories and three un- published stories. Findings: Chapter I discusses Miss O' Connor's view of the problems found in a modern society without true Christiani t y. t ~tention is g iven to Miss O'Connor's determination to relate her Christian faith to modern life and at the same time do it 111 \ ·-!'· as an artist. Py th.e>·use of unusual literary tech ni ques in . ,. her strategy, she ha~ been able to ittract the re~de r's atte n- tion to ~er p9werful religious t hemes. One of her devices is that of allegory wh i ch is dis­ cussed in Chaptv>- II. In order to present her mess age of re­ demption, Miss O1.-c·onnor; like many medieval writers, resorts to this disguised fictional form by creating another world which is beyond the _meaning of the s t ory and yet is parallel . to it in situation. ~ ter III in~icates how Miss O'Connor achieves her full ' allegorical effect by the u~~'~ ·. of symbolism which elabo- rates on the theme of the allegory and makes its meaning more easily understood. These symbols are studied at leng th by examining them as_ t hey fall into three, groups: dominant sym- bols, recurring symbols, and special symbols . Of all the devices used by Mi ss O'Connor that of t he grotesque is t h e most sta rtling. Chapter IV traces ho~ Mi ss ~ O'Connor attemp ts- to startle modern man into an awarenesi of his predicament by the use of distortion and violence which will, in turn, draw his attention to her theme of redemption. / Although the grotesque is the most unusual of her literary devices , its s uccess£ul usage is due to the skillful employment of irony and humor. In Chapter V Miss O'Connor's ,,--,. skill in taking the reader into a worlq of paradoxes, opposites and surprises by the use of irony and humor is caref ully dis- ~ cussed. It is noted that Miss O'Connor is ..the only present­ day religious writer who uses h\imor built around the religious Jv point · of view. .. Iq Chapter VI a study is made of Miss O'Connor 's use of diction which aid~ and heightens the effect o f her other devices. Because her ear is keenly attuned to the cadences of Southern speech, she has been able to reproduce quite ac­ curately the speech of the uneducated, backwoods Southern white, the Negro, and the educated, Southern middle-class white. The concluding chapter assesses Miss O'Connor's p lace as an artist. In spite of her deeply religious and didactic messages, her fiction proves exciting and provocative. By her :-1 . devices she lays down a strategy which makes her stories true works cf art. Conclusions: By her skillful use of allegory, symbolism_, the grotesque, irony, humor, and diction, Miss O'Connor has achieved a unique B l. , istic triumph, while at the same time accomplish - ing her primary aim: to shock an unbelieving world to return to Christ. V .•fl ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to express my g ratitude to the followini for their aid in the preparation of this dissertation: Dr. Bob Dowell for giving me the idea; Dr. James M. Lacy, my ma jor .. , professor, for his suggestions, his proof ~eading a nd espe- cially for his encouragement; the others of my committee, Dr • ., Edna Stephens; Dr. Paul Barrus, Dr. Charles Linck, and Dr. Fred Tarpley for their help and advice; Mrs. Martha Huff, assistant librarian at Odessa College, for great patience and skill i \ finding material whi ch was difficult to obtain; and especially my wife, Irene, who so patiently typed the final copy and endured a year of tension while it was being p repared. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER II. ALLEGORY 11 CHAPTER III~ SYMBOLISM 66 CHAPTER IV. THE GROTESQUE 124 CHAPTER V. IRONY AND HUMOR 181 CHAPTER VI. DICTION • , , . , 234 CH APTER VII. SUMMARY ANTI REC CMMENDA TICNS 26 8 BIBLIOGRAPHY 276 vii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION For almost a century man has not accepted t h e doctrine of his own depravity; even many of his churches have refused to accept his fallen nature. Through rationalism, ~hrough science,· through a thorough study of himself, man has tried to ,,,,. control his own behavior and bring about a social millennium • •, i,- _ Altho~~h the hu~anistic approach seems to have all the answers, something has gone wrong. , Unspeakable evils flourish; doubt and cynicism point to a flaw s6mewhere either in man o~ in his ,Jnstitutions. He blames the church; he blalll3s his environment; .. - "'-•. he,~ blames m;chanization; and he even blames God when he doubts His existenc • As the twentieth century progresses, man has become more and more awa r e that his position in this a g e of uncer­ tainty is untenable, requiring a reassessment to be t aken to restore him to his previous· dignity and free will. Since the late twenties there have been increasing attacks on humanism and scientism in the literary world, led by T. s. Eliot, Ez­ ra Pound and the new critics. Many have made attemp ts to re­ instate Christianity a's a means by which man can re-evaluate · hi ~ position in the universe, and more and more literary art­ ists have begun to explore the possibilities of man r·s align­ ment with God. These Christian writers have attempted to dra- 2 matize Christian conversion in many ways, often us ing symbol s, allegor·y, fables a nd anecdotes. The Christian n0velist has never been widely acc e pte d by the literary public. Because his didacticism kills t he e f ­ fect he has created through style and technique, his message offends, therefore creating a wariness on the part of the r ead­ er. Trwe, each segment of the relig ious world has had i ts own writers, appealing only to its own faithful, but t h ere had not appeared a single literary artist in America with a Chri stian viewpoint who had universal appeal to the Christian as well as ' to the non-Christian, until the appearance of Flannery Q 1 Con- nor. Flannery O'Connor was determined to relate h e r Ch ristian faith to modern life and at the same time to d o it as a n a~t­ ist. Miss O'Connor herself said~ One of the Christian n ovelist's basic p roblems is t hat he is trying to get the Christian vision across to an audience to whom it i s meaningless. Neverth eless, h e can't wr . te orily for a select few. His work will have to have value on the d ramatic level, the level of truth recognizable by anybody . The fact that many peop le can't see anything Christian about my novel doesn't i n ­ terfere with many of the~seeing it as a novel which does not falsify reality . It is true that the theme of redemption is the ce ntral idea of every one of Miss -O'Connor's works. It is, o f c ~urse, most apparent in her two novels, Wise Blood and The Vi ol en t Bear It Away, although numerous short stories also deal openly with the subject, notably "The River," "Everything That Rises Must Converge," 11 The Lame Shall Enter First, 11 and "The Arti- lJoel Wells, "Off the Cuff," Critic, XXI (August­ September, 1962), 5. 3 ficial Nigger." The theme is always hoverinp: nearby in the other short stories published in her two slim volumes, ~ Go~ Man Is Ha~~_To Find and Everytqing That Rises Must Converge, as well as yet uncollected short stories wh ich have appeared in various periodicals. The theme of redemption is not a .new., one in works of fiction, for most Christian n~velists and cer­ tainly most Catholic writers have dwelt mightily 0n it, al­ though they herve failed consistently t.o gain wide recognition. What then has made the difference in the acceptance of 0 1Con­ nor1s works and the works of the other religious writers? The answer must be in the technique, the strategy by which Miss O'Connor.
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