ipl-logo

Irony And Themes Of Flannery O Connor

1417 Words6 Pages

Irony and Themes of Flannery O’Connor “‘Nothing like it used to be, lady,’ he said. ‘The world is almost rotten’” (O’Connor 1). This quote from the story The Life You Save May Be Your Own occurs when Mr. Shiftlet first comes to town and introduced himself to the old woman and her daughter. O’Connor wants the reader to understand that its very easy to be a hypocrite. Mr. Shiftlet claims that the world is rotten, which may be true however, he is contributing to that factor. Authors use the irony in characters to bring out themes into the story. Flannery O’Connor develops the themes, often in the form of a question, of each story based on the irony of characters so the reader can see they irony of their own lives. In the story A Good Man is Hard …show more content…

Even after she admits to Manley that she doesn’t believe in God, they continue their journey to the barn where his major actions occur. Religion is shown when the Bible, that Manley is always carrying, is revealed to show nothing but alcohol, cards and condoms. Ironically, he leaves her on the top of the barn without her glasses or leg, restraining her from doing anything. O’Connor wants the reader to understand that people shouldn’t give in to others. It’s hard to tell if someone is being loyal and by giving in, oneself can be easily taken advantage of. Also, one should stay true to what they believe in. For example, in the story, Mrs. Freeman tells everyone that she is a true Christian when she keeps her Bible upstairs and rarely looks at it. Don’t lie just to make oneself look to be part of the “good country people”. In the beginning, as Hulga was being introduced, O’Connor explains that Hulga has a love of reading which relates to her career. “The girl had taken the Ph. D. in philosophy and this left Mrs. Hopewell at a complete loss” (O’Connor 104). Hulga has a degree in philosophy but, none of this is shown when she goes in a barn, takes off her leg and tries to seduce Manley. The study of philosophy focuses on knowledge, values and reason which ironically, is not proven based on her actions. She has no reason to support her actions rather than Manley’s way of luring her into his wrong ways. O’Connor wants the reader to understand that it’s important to use what one has learned. Don’t just throw the information away, because it can change the outcome of

Show More
Related
1456 Words | 6 Pages

At this point, Hulga believed that she accomplished seducing Manley without even trying. How could this be when she is the one succumbing to his requests and not the opposite? Manley asks Hulga to show him where her wooden leg joined her amputated leg. “[Hulga] took care of [her artificial leg] as someone else would his soul, in private and almost with her own eyes turned away,” so she refused (8). Manley begins to pout and tells her that she was “playing [him] for a sucker.”

Read More
793 Words | 4 Pages

She uses the term good country people and “nice young men” (page 3) as insults to keep those types of people at arm’s length due to her insecurity; Manly Pointer could be described by both of those terms. When Hulga’s mother calls Manly the salt of the earth as a reference to him being a good country person she makes a rude remark about getting “rid of the salt of the earth” (page 4) so she could eat. Then during the meal she ignored him because she doesn’t believe that he is worth her time, but still observes “sideways how he handled his knife and fork” (page 5) like he is a science experiment and she is recording her data not observing him as a person of equal stature. All of these actions show the reader that Hugla does not partake in real life but prefers her make believe land where all of her assumptions are right before interacting with anyone or anything. When she does this to Manly Pointer it allows him to figure out what he needs to be to contribute to her needs without her getting in the

Read More
599 Words | 3 Pages

What is the relationship between the self and religious influence? Flannery O’Connor explores the tensions between fulfilling the self’s needs in the face of religion. After a great deal of religious influence, the self is likely to rebel (even to the extent of committing horrible misdeeds). At the point in the novel depicted in the above passage, young Tarwater is in conversation with a supposedly evil voice that comes to him after his zealous great uncle’s death.

Read More
766 Words | 4 Pages

Flannery O'Connor uses literary devices such as FORESHADOWING, DEEPER CHARACTER MEANINGS, and SYMBOLISM, to help the reader contemplate what extremes they would go to for their freedom. The first literary device O'Connor used was foreshadowing , she did this by suggesting slight details that hinted at what was later to come in the story. This can be seen in the quotation, “When they were ready to leave, she stood staring in the window of the car, with her fingers clenched around the glass.

Read More
1216 Words | 5 Pages

At first glance of Trent Manning’s piece titled Self propelled we notice a man sitting in a small dingy boat with the absence of oars or a motor. He uses his same reoccurring color scheme placing your initial focus on the brighter red color of the sleeve on one of his arms. His arm draws your attention to the hand where there is no means of movement for this boat but by his own power. Manning seems to be critiquing the nursery rhyme “row, row, row your boat” from his perspective rather than just a simple song. The anguished look on his face portrays that there is nothing except his arms powering the boat.

Read More
1465 Words | 6 Pages

Hulga shares this characteristic when it comes to her attempt to seduce Manley, “[s]he imagined that she took his remorse in hand and changed it into a deeper understanding of life” (O’Connor 293). Despite their shared qualities, Hulga’s believed superiority hinders her ability to look deeper. While she is resentful of her mother’s simple expressions, she does not know what she actually believes about others. This emphasizes Hulga’s lack of awareness of her mother’s true beliefs, which in turn highlights her inability to think critically about others. Furthermore, Mrs.Hopewell’s misleading comments regarding her religion also reveal faults in Hulga’s thinking.

Read More
1033 Words | 5 Pages

In a sense, O’Connor is using Mrs. Hopewell to symbolically represent society’s expectations of women. Hulga defies these expectations through her Nihilistic lifestyle. However, in her conversations with Manley Pointer, Hulga contradicts this

Read More
393 Words | 2 Pages

O’ Connor makes the racial difference more complex through her use of logical appeals. Although, white individuals in the 1960s were considered the most superior, not all white people were the same through Mrs. Turpin’s eyes. For example, the instance is given in the short story when Mrs. Turpin was forced to choose by Jesus if she would rather be a nigger or white-trash. Mrs. Turpin responds to this almost impossible question and answers with, “All right make me a nigger then- but that don’t mean a trashy one.”

Read More
394 Words | 2 Pages

Flannery O’Connor’s The King of the Birds is a narrative explaining the narrator’s obsession with different kinds of fowl over time. The reader follows the narrator from her first experience with a chicken, which caught the attention of reporters due to its ability to walk both backward and forward, to her collection of peahens and peacocks. At the mere age of five, the narrator’s chicken was featured in the news and from that moment she began to build her family of fowl. The expansive collection began with chickens, but soon the narrator found a breed of bird that was even more intriguing; peacocks.

Read More
566 Words | 3 Pages

Artis Griffin Mrs. Horn English 11 26 January 2015 Human Morality in the Eyes of Flannery O’Connor Do humans have questionable morals? Flannery O’Connor proves that sometimes humans do in her short story, “The Life You Save May Be You Own”. This short story is about how a stranger named Mr. Shiftlet meets an old woman named Mrs. Crater and her only daughter Lucynell. Both Mrs. Crater and Mr. Shiftlet are somewhat corrupt human beings, but Lucynell is pure and innocent.

Read More
937 Words | 4 Pages

Irony brings about some additional meanings to a situation. Ironical statements and situations in literature develop readers’ interest. Irony makes a work of literature more intriguing and forces the readers to use their imagination and comprehend the underlying meanings of the texts. Moreover, real life is full of ironical expressions and situations. Therefore, the use of irony brings a work of literature closer to the life.

Read More
598 Words | 3 Pages

Federigo’s Falcon’s Irony Authors use irony to make their audience stop and think about what has just been said, excite the reader, build suspense, or to even emphasize the idea. There are three types of irony: Verbal, Situational, and Dramatic. In Federigo’s Falcon by Giovanni Boccaccio, all three types of irony are used in different ways throughout the story. For instance, a clear example of Situational Irony is at the end of short story.

Read More
546 Words | 3 Pages

Flannery O’Connor expresses the theme of pride in her short stories, “Good Country People”, “The Life You Save May Be Your Own”, and “The Displaced Person”. Hulga Hopewell thinks she is above Manley Pointer and can out smart him. Mr. Shiftlet claims everyone else is slime and should b washed away when in reality it is him who is slime. Mrs. McIntyre watches a worker get killed to save herself the trouble of firing him.

Read More
913 Words | 4 Pages

“If you look at great human civilizations, from the Roman Empire to the Soviet Union, you will see that most do not fail simply due to external threats but because of internal weakness, corruption, or a failure to manifest the values and ideals they espouse” (Booker). No one likes feeling weak; even more so when it’s their own fault. Weakness can be caused by a multitude of reasons such as the lack of a comprehension or for health reasons which sometimes lead to negative outcomes. John Steinbeck 's novella Of Mice and Men proves that weakness leads to a variety of repercussions by using irony to show weakness, Candy’s self troubles, and the use of foreshadowing. Irony was used to the show the outcomes caused by weakness in Of Mice and Men throughout the entirety of the story.

Read More
1278 Words | 6 Pages

Literary Analysis from Two Stories: Conflict Both Authors Flannery O’Connor and Naomi Shahab Nye have contributed greatly in the literature field through short but creative narratives. Through the narratives, “Good Country People by O’Connor and “Blood” by Naomi, they have pointed out and provided resolutions to some of the daily challenges of humanity such as the various kinds of conflicts. Both the short narrative by O’Connor and the poem by Naomi strongly reflect the theme of conflict although at different angles and intensities. While O’Connor deals with human relational conflicts of interest, Naomi’s poem centers on passive conflicts between races and countries. Categorically, they both use various literary techniques such as imagery,

Read More

More about Irony And Themes Of Flannery O Connor

Related Topics

Open Document