Please respond to the following prompt by attaching a comment signed with your name. Responses received before 4:00 on Thursday afternoon will be considered for extra credit on a previous assignment of either one, two, or three points.
Flannery O'Connor is celebrated as being one of the foremost authors of the Southern Gothic style. This style relies especially on the use of the grotesque in either characters or situations to clarify O'Connor's greater purpose in the story. Given that knowledge, what element of the grotesque do you think has the most impact on the story? What is that impact? Why is this element of the grotesque and its impact important to the story as a whole?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
The most significant element of grotesque is the description and reactions of The Misfit. The Misfit is depicted as a savage character with no regard for human life and as the grandmother tries to tame him, it becomes obvious just how ruthless he is. The reader comes to fear The Misfit and his illogical ideology and O'Connor uses this fear to then create a certain sympathy for the Misfit. As the reader sees how messed up he his, we feel sorry that he's not like us and remembering that he is in control we feel sorry for him and his victims, except the grandmother. The grandmother is like him, except that we see her as one of us, which creates a distaste for her as opposed to a sympathy like we feel for the Misfit, so that we're almost glad when she is shot.
Post a Comment