A Journey to Convergence in Flannery O’Connor’s Stories 2001년 서강대학교 대학원 영어영문학과 박 주 영 A Journey to Convergence in Flannery O’Connor’s Stories 지도교수 노 재 호 이 논문을 문학석사 학위 논문으로 제출함 2002년 6월 12일 서강대학교 대학원 영어영문학과 박 주 영 논 문 인 준 서 박주영의 영어영문학 석사학위 논문을 인준함 2002년 6월 12일 주심 장 영 희 [印] 부심 노 재 호 [印] 부심 Artem Lozynsky [印] A Journey to Convergence in Flannery O’Connor’s Stories Joo Young Park A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Sogang University in Partial Fulfillment of Requirement for the Degree of Master of Arts 2001 Acknowledgements I am deeply grateful for the faculty of Sogang University. Especially, Prof. Roh Jae-ho has always encouraged me with his kind advice, which was the most helpful for my thesis. Also, I wish to give my special thanks to Prof. Chang Young- hee who has impressed me with her teaching as well as her warm heart. I much owe thanks to Prof. Lozynsky who inspired me to study about Flannery O’Connor. He taught me how to think and write in a literary way, and gave me an opportunity to discover many writers less known to us. I greatly appreciate to meet those respectable teachers while I was in Sogang. I also send my thanks to everyone and everything that encouraged me to endure the times for my thesis: My mom & dad, who always care for me with their special love. Jieun & Steve, you are so great to me. Laputians.. lovely friends I met at Sogang. I want to have you forever in my life. 1004, Thank you so much. And all my beloved friends. especially everyone who becomes my friends whenever I wander alone in the shadow of hard time. Beautiful sunshine, serene sky, fresh wind, deep blue nights in azure springtime of 2002 . and the rainy afternoons in May. I cannot forget your mysterious beauty. Above all, I am happy to finish my thesis at the very moment of ‘convergence’ in this country during the Worldcup game season. Whenever our Korean team won in the games, we the Koreans became one truly. The ‘converging’ was just here very near us, not in the metaphysical, transcendental space beyond our daily lives. I think those moments of convergence must be a small gift Flannery O’Connor presents to me for the memory of this spring with my thesis. June, 2002 Park, Jooyoung Table of Contents 국문초록...........………………………………………………………..i Abstract….........……………………………………………………...iii Introduction: Flannery O’Connor as a Southern Catholic…..…….1 Chapter I: The Alienated People with the Sin of Pride………...….10 Chapter II: The Way into Convergence through God’s Grace…...33 Conclusion………………………………………………………........53 Works Cited…………………………………………………….........57 국 문 초 록 현대 미국 문학 역사상 Flannery O ’Connor는 남부 출신의 카톨릭 작가라는 독특한 위상을 지닌 작가인 동시에 자신의 독특한 정체성을 픽션 속 에 부여함으로써 뛰어난 독창성을 인정 받은 작가이다. 전통적으로 ‘ Bible- belt’라고 불리우며 정통침례교가 주류를 이루고 사상면에서도 지극히 보수 적이던 당시의 미국 남부 사회에서 카톨릭 작가로서의 목소리를 내기란 쉽지 않았음에도 불구하고, 그녀는 자신의 삶과 세상을 바라보는 시각이 카톨릭 교 리에 뿌리를 두고 있음을 당당히 밝혔다. 따라서 본 논문에서 다루게 될 그녀 의 단편 소설들은 표면적으로는 매우 단순하고 현실적으로 인물과 사건을 다 루고 있지만 그 속에 숨겨진 주제들은 공통적으로 형이상학적이고 종교적인 작가 자신의 뚜렷한 비전을 담고 있다. 다시 말해, 문학을 통한 O’Connor의 궁극적인 목적은 일상의 인간 삶 속에서 신의 은총과 그 신비를 드러내는 것이다. 이러한 종교적 메시지는 자 칫하면 교훈적이고 건조할 수 있으나 그녀는 매우 재치있고 해학적인 언어로 인간 실존의 모순과 부조리, 허위와 위선 등을 묘사함으로써 소설에 극적 재 미를 선사함과 더불어 주인공과 독자들에게 강렬한 구원의 메시지를 전달한다. 즉 신에 대한 믿음을 잃은 현대 사회 속에서 인간 삶의 부조리와 악에 무디어 진 그녀의 소설 속 주인공들은 매우 기이하고도 극단적인 경험을 통해 다시 i 삶의 실체와 마주하게 되고 나아가 성숙된 자기인식의 기회를 마련하게 됨으 로써 초자연적인 신의 신비를 깨닫게 되는 것이다. 본서는 O’Connor가 자신의 종교적 비전 속에서 어떻게 인간구원의 문 제에 대한 답을 제시하고 있는지를 알아보고자 한다. 우선 1장에서는 인간이 지닌 오만의 죄로 인해 서로 소외되어 있는 자들을 찾아본다. 그들의 오만과 우월감은 타인과는 물론 자기 자신과 세상으로부터 스스로를 고립시키며 나아 가 현실을 인식하는 능력마저 마비시킨다. 그들에게 타인과의 진정한 소통과 사랑은 존재하지 않는 듯 보인다. 그러므로 2장에서는 이들이 신의 은총을 통 해 구원되어지는 과정을 탐색해보고자 한다. 그 구원의 길은 낯설고 기이한 방법으로 그들을 찾아오며, 바로 이 과정에서 O’Connor는 폭력의 효과를 통 해 그녀의 주인공들을 현실로 돌아오게 만든다. 값비싼 고통의 대가를 치르고 얻어낸 자기인식과 현실인식 속에서 그들은 신 아래 서로가 하나로 통합되어 있음을 깨닫게 되는 것이다. 궁극적으로 Flannery O ’Connor는 섬세하고도 재치있는 인간관계의 묘사를 통해 소외라는 실존적 문제를 언급함과 동시에 눈으로 보이지 않는 믿 음의 실체를 파격적으로 형상화 시킴으로써 인간이 개개인의 존재이기 이전에 신안에 모두 하나였음을 이야기한다. 그 합체 속에서 사회적, 계급적, 인종적, 정신적 차별의 벽은 모두 무의미한 것이다. 결국 그녀는 지역주의 작가라는 한계를 뛰어넘기 위해 오히려 남부의 문화를 바탕으로 이야기를 썼고, 카톨릭 작가라는 타이틀에 한정되기를 거부하며 자신의 종교적 비전과 믿음을 보편적 인류의 메세지로 승화시켰다. ii Abstract Flannery O’Connor said, “to know oneself is to know what one lacks.” In her stories, O’Connor depicts people who do not know oneself. They have no self- awareness because they do not know what they lack – humility as an imperfect human being under the presence of God. They only have pride of self-sufficiency; so they are unable to see themselves as well as others just as they are. Unfortunately, they drift on the surface if life not recognizing reality as it is. It consequently makes them alienated from each other, stuck in the world of their egoistic selves. However, O’Connor portrays such a tragic situation of human existence with witty expression. Ironically, this comic atmosphere more enlarges the effect of violence in the climax of stories. The violence O’Connor uses for her thematic purpose is another form of God’s grace descending upon human world for salvation. Through violence, O’Connor’s people eventually encounter the moment of epiphany in which they realize the truth that all human beings are united together into one. Their pride is totally destroyed and at the same time, they return to reality. O’Connor’s ultimate purpose was to reveal the mystery of God’s grace in everyday life. And for many people who cannot share her faith, she chose to iii depict salvation through violence upon characters who are spiritually or physically grotesque. This thesis will explore O’Connor’s lifelong concern with the problem of human salvation in light of religious meaning. As a devout Catholic, O’Connor’s religious faith was at the very center of her vision of human world. Even though the surface of her stories is simple and realistic, the underlying meaning is deeply connected with her religious world. Chapter One deals with the problem of human alienation caused by sin of pride. We will see the tragic situation of O’Connor’s characters who are unable to confront reality with no self- awareness. However, O’Connor suggests the way to solve the problem from her Christian standpoint. Her alienated people with the sin of pride are finally redeemed by God’s grace. We will look for the very process of religious salvation for those sinners in Chapter Two. Through God’s grace, the individual is brought into closer communication with the source of truth. Moreover, in O’Connor’s vision of religious salvation, there lies the theological idea that the entire universe is in perpetual evolution toward cosmic convergence in a single whole and the end is union with God. Therefore, O’Connor’s people are ultimately going toward cosmic convergence in that everyone is united into one with God. The initiation is through moments of grace in that they recognize reality with true humility. In her stories, O’Connor apparently and effectively expressed her Catholic vision for the ‘hard of hearing iv you shout and for the almost-blind’ who are used to seeing distortions in modern life as natural. And it consequently makes Flannery O’Connor transcend the regional limitations as a Southern Catholic writer. v ‘Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen’ (Hebrews 11:1). vi Introduction: Flannery O’Connor as a Southern Catholic Flannery O’Connor (1925-64) has a peculiar position in the history of modern American literature because her life as a Southerner as well as a Roman Catholic is very closely related with her literary works. As a devout Catholic, she lived all her life in the small Southern town, Milledgeville, in Georgia. O’Connor’s considerable reputation depends on two novels, Wise Blood (1952) and The Violent Bear It Away (1960), and two volumes of stories, A Good Man Is Hard to Find (1955) and the posthumously published Everything That Rises Must Converge (1965). Moreover, the stories from both collections and others not formally published before were recollected and published in 1971 under the title of The Complete Stories. Although her short life due to illness interrupted her to write many novels and stories, O’Connor fully achieved significant critical attention even from her first publication. Even though she is also famous for her novels, many commentators point out that her literary skill is more apt to short fiction. O’Connor’s style is “limpid and refined,” her form “spare and shapely” (Binding 160); Paul Binding suggests that this characteristic style may explain O’Connor’s “predilection for the short story, in which her greatest work was done” (160). Truly, O’Connor herself had 1 special affection toward short story genre. She asserts that the short story is “one of the most natural and fundamental ways of human experience” (Mystery 87).