Wise Blood Analysis

Flannery O’Connor’s Wise Blood contains several characters who reject Jesus and the idea of original sin and God’s redemption. Wise Blood shows that without God people either become shrunken humans or animals. Enoch Emery becomes an animal figure by the end of the novel. While O’Connor connects Enoch’s lack of faith to his animalistic tendencies, one can also ascertain that Enoch completely immerses himself in his wise blood because his life lacks a love for God and other people, promoting the theme that without divine or human love one can only act like an animal. O’Connor’s introduction to Enoch establishes his lonely, unloved existence. O’Connor makes it known that no one loves this eighteen-year-old boy and that the boy does not love anyone either. “The boy guffawed and looked at the other people gathered around” (38). Enoch is first seen in Chapter 3 where he is trying to talk to a salesman, but the salesman ignores the boy, showcasing that no one values Enoch. In light of being ignored, the boy then turns to Hazel Motes and

Enoch watches three different films, and the third film, “Lonnie Comes Home Again,” is the one that the boy cannot stand (139). This film is about a baboon who saves orphans from burning in a fire. Enoch keeps hoping Lonnie would die in the flames, but the baboon never does. The boy sees that the baboon is receiving more love and a better life than Enoch has ever been given; this realization stays with the boy throughout the rest of Wise Blood. After leaving the movies, Enoch remains set on completing his quest. He tells preaching-crazed Hazel that he will retrieve the new jesus, but his wise blood kicks in and reminds him that “the last time he had seen Hazel Motes was when Hazel Motes had hit him over the head with a rock” (141). His animal instinct almost completely takes over and formulates a plan for how Enoch will steal and present the shrunken man to his