Narrative and Character Issues in Southern Literature
In Flannery O'Connor's Religion of the Grotesque, Marshall Bruce Gentry argues the relationship between characters ties in with the narration and religious intent (Jenkins 104). Gentry's argument focuses on the degradation of characters themselves and the term "grotesque" (Jenkins 105). According to Gentry, the characters are always assumed to be how the narrator explains them. However, it is found that the characters make their own path unconsciously and apply it as a road to redemption. Therefore, Southern literature characters are explained by the narrator as one thing yet can turn themselves into something different because they are held responsible for their own redemption.
Gentry explains how …show more content…
In O'Connor's stories, her characters are connected to the events that happen around them. Symbolizing their life and what happens in it, despite what the narrator describes. In O'Connor's story, "A Good Man is Hard to Find", the grandmother desires to visit some of her connections in Tennessee but the family is traveling to Florida. Her continuous thought about where she wanted to go and where she was going eventually causes all of O'Connor's characters to travel down a grotesque path. Also in O'Connor's story, "Good Country People", her character, Hulga, subconsciously desires to believe in a greater power but is blind to what she truly wants. This subconscious desire leads her to go with Pointer. She hopes to redeem herself by doing so, once she realizes the situation she is in (O'Connor 10). The desire for redemption within ties in with beliefs too. Hulga is an atheist, however; Hulga's desire for something greater within herself allows her to see a figure walking on water. O'Connor's characters also relate their events in life to their religion and use it as a "tool for