Wise Blood: A Closer Look
Live and let live is a common state of mind in the average individual. The common
phrase means, in a nutshell, that a person can live as they want but they cannot judge others for
living as they want as long as neither of their actions infringes on the rights of the other
individual. Wise Blood is a novel written by Flannery O’Connor and contains many themes and
deeper meanings than the pages let on. Wise Blood is a complex novel that discusses multiple
religious views and themes (Paige). Every chapter has a different message, and every message
has multiple possible themes a reader can deduct from it. Flannery O’Connor leaves the reader to
conclude their own meanings from the central themes she expresses in
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As a reader gets deeper
into the novel, they start to see something in common with all of the characters and that is that
they are all free to do what they please. Hazel tries to convince people to believe like he does,
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but he doesn't murder them if they do not believe, they are free to follow his teachings or to
dismiss them. Enoch was a bit of a crazed man and he was never a laid back soul, but no one
judges him for his actions, at least not that harshly. Sabbath Lily never exactly believed in
anything. Although Enoch and Hazel tried to convince Sabbath Lily to believe like they do, I, as
a reader, never came to the conclusion that she believed in Hazel's views because she actually
believed them but rather she just wanted to please Hazel (Paige). Recapping on Hazel, when he
inflicted pain on himself and blinded himself, no one judged him or told him to stop, everyone
accepted his decision and went about their business (Jordinson). In my opinion, O'Connor wrote
the character's reactions in this way because she wanted to show that even when someone is
doing something stupid, people do not have to follow and listen to what they are saying.
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In retrospect, even though Hazel
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tried his absolute hardest to stay away from religion, he was still the pinpoint of light in the
darkness.
In conclusion, Wise Blood is one of the most profoundly deep novels I have ever read.
While I was reading Wise Blood, I originally thought that it was going to be a simple story of a
man struggling with identity. As the book started off, it was simply Hazel on a train headed to a
city where he would stay for a bit. Even by the third chapter, nothing strange or unusual
happened, which I thought was a bit of a let down because I love books that hit the ground
running right from the start. About half of the way through the book, I was starting to get the
idea that there was a deeper meaning to this book than it was letting on, seeing as O'Connor kept
contrasting idols and what it means to think for yourself and what it means to be human. Finally,
the concept of "wise blood," or how I see it, common sense, was introduced into the scene by
Enoch Emory. That idea of having "wise blood" lead me to think that religion is not all it is
hyped up to be because that idea is nothing but common sense and the idea to live and let