Freedom In Flannery O Connor's The Violent Bear It Away?

How is freedom defined? In The Violent Bear it Away, Flannery O’Connor explores the impacts of religious influence in relation to the secular world. O’Connor, a devout Catholic, very clearly shares a similar perspective as the religious great uncle, Mason Tarwater. Mason’s great nephew, Francis Tarwater (simply referred to as Tarwater for most of the novel), struggles with the perspectives of both his great uncle and his uncle, a secular teacher (referred to as Rayber. Both Mason Tarwater and Rayber preach what they believe freedom is. From Mason’s perspective, freedom is a separation from the secular world and a full immersion in religious life. On the other hand, Rayber believes that freedom is a separation from religious myths and a full belief in one’s own

Tarwater is caught between these two perspectives. He moves out to the city to escape his supposed fate as a prophet, yet he refuses to adopt the lifestyle Rayber attempts to immerse him in. Tarwater grapples with these two conflicting views through aggression, and ultimately by drowning his disabled cousin, Bishop, and setting the forest and his old home on fire to destroy his great uncle’s dead body. Tarwater does these things when a voice comes to him and commands him to do so. While this voice is usually defined as a Satan figure, this voice can also be read as a part of Tarwater. This voice guides Tarwater to his eventual freedom, which is following the teachings of his great uncle to become a prophet. In this novel, O’Connor uses Tarwater to explore these definitions of freedom and teaches the reader what O’Connor believes freedom to be—the pursuit of