The Struggle In Flannery O Connor's The Enduring Chill

Educating a kid and raising him or her in such an effective way might be tough for parents. Keeping in control of the decisions that their kids make and sometimes taking decisions for them are turning points in the life of a child because this can teach them how life works or worse, that can also ruin their lives. The short story of Flannery O’Connor’s “The Enduring Chill” addresses the issue that parents have to be prepared in order to raise their kids properly because the decision that they make for their children’s lives are at the center of their futures. In the short story “The Enduring Chill,” Flannery O’Connor depicts the live of a 25-year-old guy named Asbury. This guy is somehow frustrated with his own life, and he blames his mother

Fox’s pressure on Asbury made him take decisions that at some point might have driven him to where he is, in a state of rejection to his mom. From the beginning of the story, when Asbury is coming back to his mom’s house after spending time in New York, one can tell the skepticism in which he treats his mom. When Mrs. Fox calls Asbury’s attention for his clothing and the temperature, Asbury replies her in an impolite way (1). He says (2), “You don’t have to tell me what the temperature is!” (O’Connor 83) (3). Reading this brings the idea that Asbury is mad at his mom, and somehow her mom’s presence bothers him a lot (4). Another important point in this story is the way that mothers are depicted, and how their interventions in their children’s lives have changed their children (1). According to Rod Dreher in his article “Mel isn 't the only sinner: Commentary: What an actor 's fiasco can teach us about bigotry” in which Dreher makes a comparison between two characters of O’Connor’s work, he argues, (2)

O 'Connor gave us two very similar characters, Julian and Asbury, both of whom were pseudo-sophisticated layouts who proved their racial and cultural enlightenment by despising their simple-minded, conventionally prejudiced mothers. Both had harsh epiphanies in which they were forced to see that their self- righteousness, masquerading as moral superiority, not only blinded them to the goodness buried under their bigoted mothers ' messy humanity but also kept them from seeing themselves as they truly were: prideful sinners in need of mercy. (Dreher 2016)