Grotesque In Flannery O Connor's Beauty And The Beast

Beauty and the Beast is a well known Disney story everyone knows. The story follows a man who was once beautiful, but his arrogance led to him being turned into this terrifying monster known as the Beast. The Beast is a well known grotesque character because he symbolizes what arrogance will do to a man[or woman]. The definition of grotesque is “Odd or unnatural in shape, appearance, or character; fantastically ugly or absurd; bizarre”(Dictionary.com). Flannery O’Connor is a well known writer who writes in a Southern Gothic writing style to convey a grotesque image in her characters and settings because she believes that its the only way to get people to see the way she sees as she’s stated in her quote, “I am interested in making a good case

Mr. Shiftlet is a great example of this from the short story “The Life You Save May Be Your Own”. Mr. Shiftlet goes to the house of Lucynell where her and her daughter Lucynell live. Mr. Shiftlet seems like a good and hard working man, so Lucynell tells him “Well, if you come out here to work, I’ll be able to feed you and give you a place to sleep but I can’t pay. I’ll tell you before you begin”(O’Connor, Flannery “The Life You Save May Be Your Own”). Lucynell trust him and allows him to work on the farm, which he accepts and helps fix up the place a bit. Mr. Shiftlet starts to get close to her daughter Lucynell and the mother notices this and tells him that he can marry her. At first Shiftlet was hesitant he even told her that “the body, lady, is like a house: it don’t go no anywhere, but the spirit, lady is like an automobile: always on the move, always..”(“The Life You Save May Be Your Own”). Shiftlet’s telling her that the spirit always moves, spirit being a symbol for life. Lucynell doesn’t mind that and she tries to convince him to marry her. She offers him a car so he can take her daughter out for a honeymoon like a proper husband and wife. Shiftlet hints at his motives of “i got to follow where my spirit says to go”(“The Life You Save May Be Your Own”). Shiftlet has this mindset of needing to keep on moving whenever hes given the opportunity. Lucynell trust him and doesn’t see any wrong with him so the both come to an agreement of him marrying her daughter. After they married they went on their honeymoon. Stopping at a diner to feed his wife Shiftlet goes in and orders her food. Exhausted Lyucynell falls asleep on the table. The boy who serves his food tells him “She loos like an angel of Gawd”(“The Life You Save May Be Your Own”). Shiftlet tells the boy that shes just a hitch hiker and then he leaves to Tuscaloosa. Shiftlet took