Analysis of Flannery OConner Writings - Essay Example

Number] Flannery O’Conner Flannery O’Conner was the American who had greatly contributed in American literature through her work. Some of the stories that she has written are A Good Man is Hard to Find, Everything That Rises Must Converge, The Complete Stories and Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose. She has given many of the messages and forms of literary works through these stories. She has won many awards for her work and has been able to win a great number of readers’ hearts. Her keen style of writing and her focus on the topics has made her one of the most influential writers in the history of American literature (Kennedy, Gioia 121). Her work gives a sense of realism which helps the reader to form a very close relationship with the writing. Her writing style in every book has been so delicate that it shows how sensitive she would have been as a person. Her writing shows images of birds which gives a sense of her closeness with them in her life. Her work talks about ethics and morality. The way she delivers her message attracts the reader in the book and no matter how short the story is, she has always been successful in delivering her message fully. Much of her work relates to the questions of life that are often coming in our minds. She relates the morality of humans and people around us and questions them. Her work is not only a piece of literature; it is also a philosophical aspect in which she talks to the readers to open their minds about their surroundings. The best part is that her work does not talk about unrealistic themes, but they focus on the society and the issues often raised in every society, related to humanity. She is very neutral and shows no bend towards anyone in specific except her Roman Catholic faith about which she has written much but related it with the reality of life (O Connor17). This is my sense of the writer’s work and I think she is a marvellous writer who was written stories that anyone can read no matter what age what gender. I think her work is exceptional and the language she has used is very pleasing. It doesn’t seem to give very difficult concepts that readers find difficult to grasp. Her stories are simple and about the humans of every society. She also talks about faith and morality amongst the humans and their lives. I think the writer has done some great jobs on her stories and people should still continue to read them. I like the stories very much and they attract me towards them more and more. O’Conner lived in her ancestral farm for bout fourteen years and raised more than a hundred birds. She loved all kinds of birds and was fascinated by them. As a result she wrote a book in which she described her peacocks and it was named ‘The King of the Birds’ (O Connor17). Because of her love for birds and the knowledge she had about them she was not only motivated to write a book about them but she usually incorporated the image of a peacock in her books. And even though her life was sheltered and packed, she was able to write in a way that could still attract every kind of reader. Her writing nowhere showed her packed life in a farm with birds. Since she was a writer from the South, her writings were mainly focused on the South which she called realistic. She usually wrote about the South and the people from these regions as she believed she could well relate to them by living with them all her life. The issues of racism also appeared partially in her writings. It was observed by the readers and the critics that her works were usually giving themes about the disturbing aspects of the society, her characters were also somehow disturbing though she didn’t want to cynical, she often couldn’t help writing in such a way maybe because of her lifestyle that naturally showed through her writing. When I read her work, I also feel she foreshadowed her story and told the reader about what is going to happen next before it happened. Yet these features of her writing never made her stories boring or irrelevant. Due to some of her stories she was regarded as sarcastic and brutal though she always refused to such reviews whenever she came across them. Since she was a believer of the Roman Catholics faith, many of her books revolved around the Christian faith and thus, she often claimed her books as being Christian realism and thus, sentimental. She wrote in the Catholic literature and contributed towards it through her great works. She wrote fiction with Southern characters and was often ironic and transformed pain, violence and brutal behaviour as being holy. These stories were very close to her faith and the ways she made her characters touched by divine grace showed keenly how much she admired her Catholic faith. O’Conner had a deep sense of humour which she often used in her writing and based it on the perceptions of her characters and the actual great fate that they end up into. But most of her stories reveal her intelligence and vigilance to some of those issues of the society that have often been hidden from the people. She has hit some of the most sensitive issues such as poverty and race. This shows her feel for the society and her urge to deliver her message to the people. It is true that she has been that writer whose characters are totally selfless and a picture of the true society. The reviews and the published stories about O’Conner and her sense of writing do not affect my appreciation to her work. I still feel that she has done what most of the writers of her time would not have done and that is to raise the issues that are most important in the society. With her reach towards Roman Catholic faith and the morality of humans, she shows how her sense of humour has achieved her love of many readers. Even though some of the critics have called her writings horror and brutal, I believe that they have been long lasting and impactful for many of the people in the society even today. Her life has affected her writing to a great extend and that is not a bad thing. Her life is inspirational and her writing becomes a reflection of her soul which was pure for the love of humanity and her faith. It is pretty clear that her life was filled with troubles and hardships. She lived in a farm in between birds and animals and yet no one could stop her from writing such amazing stories and understanding the human behaviour. O’Conner interests me because of her way of writing and the mixture of themes that she has written in. I believe her work is full of interesting thoughts like about the peacocks which is based on her real life experiences and is one of the best books that anyone could read. Moreover, her reflection of faith which comes from her own beliefs makes her writings very pure and close to the soul. With the style of writing in which she creates some of the best characters ever created, she influences me to think deeper about the human life. All her characters have been strong and very influential on the readers and even for me. Thus, she helps in making me understand the truth of the society even in the twentieth century and how the human behaviours were at that time. Work Cited Kennedy X.J., Gioia Dana. An Introduction to Fiction. NY: Prentice Hall, 2009. Print. O Connor Flannery. Flannery OConnor Complete Stories. NY: Z. El Bey, 2009. Print. Read More