Wise Blood By Flannery OConnor - Essay Example

Wise Blood By Flannery O’Connor Wise Blood is a story of a young man, Hazel Motes, who takes desperate measures to demonstrate that Christ does not exist. Hazel Motes takes an extreme measure of forming an antireligious ministry to prove Christ’s non-existence. Flannery O'Connor’s depicts her characters as mysterious and one-dimensional as much as possible to bring out the religious meaning of Wise Blood. For instance, Motes has the character of a martyr, despite spending most of his time trying to run away from God. As a child, Haze was convinced he could avoid Jesus if he avoided committing sins (O'Connor 10). When this does not seem to work, he becomes determined to convert to nothing. Motes cannot go to any place without people mistaking him for a preacher, no matter his actions. Nevertheless, the key purpose of the novel is to show that here is an exploration of repercussions of the decision made by Motes after deciding to reject God. Sin and forgiveness, as a theme is clearly depicted in almost all the characters, in the novel. When Motes pursues the new prophet, Solace Layfield, Motes rams his car and runs over him. Right before Layfield dies; he confesses his sins, including the fact that the car was stolen and asks Jesus for help. This scene serves to the give the novel a moralistic lesson. Readers learn that it is difficult to deny Christ’s salvation in both life and death; in death, Layfield does not resist Christ’s presence and asks for forgiveness. The idea in his mind, that, Jesus would have sacrificed his life for every sinner “in ten million deaths” (p.10), haunts Motes. Motes later comes to a conclusion that he does not believe in such beliefs as evidenced in the text; “There was already a deep black wordless conviction …” (O’Connor 10). As a child, Haze anxiousness to view the side shows led to his lying about his age. When he finally went into the tent, he immediately saw the body of a naked, obese woman who was in the casket. The reaction was not unnatural as such as the site is likely to invoke humiliation and fright in most ten year olds. Not only was the woman’s body naked, but she placed in a casket, as well. O’Connor parallels this grotesque display of death and sexuality with sin itself. The author indicates that Motes soon realized that he was not supposed to watch a naked lady, let alone one in a casket, as it was sinful to do so. Motes punished himself for his actions. O’Connor also quotes for her readers, on her views on sin; “You can tell people better how terrible sin is if you know from your own personal experience.” (O’Connor 15). It is evident that the author is sending the message; sexuality is sinful. The figure of Christ is the other theme, in the novel. O’Connor informs her readers that before Motes decided to join the army, he wanted to become a preacher. Motes goes home only to avoid Jesus who appears in his mind numerous times. As the author explains, no matter what Motes does Jesus moves "…from tree to tree in the back of his mind, a wild, ragged figure motioning him..."(O’Connor 47). It is a figure that reminds Motes he is in dire need of salvation. Hazel Motes returns to the small town only to establish the “Church without Christ”. Hawk, a preacher in the town informs Motes that he will never run away from Jesus, but despite being told this, Motes still believes that Jesus does not exist. This is evidenced when he says “I’m going to preach a new church; the church of truth without Jesus Christ Crucified (O’Connor 28). O’Connor’s assertion of the figure of Christ is also depicted through the use of signs. When Motes drives all the way into the country, he stops and sees a sign that says “…Jesus Saves”. This emphasizes the fact that Motes cannot escape Jesus Christ, despites all the efforts used. The working of God’s grace in a person’s life is also another key theme in Wise Blood. O’Connor’s concept of Grace in the central character, Hazel Motes, is strongly enforced throughout the novel. Hazel Motes starts as a man who is firm on escaping Jesus and the image that haunts him. The character’s death nonetheless indicates that even in death, Motes is making his way to Bethlehem. The main character’s thoughts in the novel, no doubt betray the idea that there exist other ways to run from God’s Grace, other than the usual rebellion. In the parable of the prodigal son (Good News Bible, Luke 15:11-32), people are reminded that there are two ways to run from God and different three ways to live. The younger brother squanders his inheritance yet his father takes him back. The older brother was the obedient one and most faithful, yet his father did not throw a feast for him. The older brother says ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends” (Good News Bible, Luke 15:29). He felt that because he was faithful and the most responsible son, he was entitled to better treatment than his brother. O’Connor reminds her readers, that despite people’s actions, God still accepts them in his life. As it is the case with Motes, he denied and rejected God only to be saved by grace in death. Enoch Emery becomes resentful when he receives strange messages through his “wise blood”. He does not understand this, but he knows that he has to obey because he is subject to grace. When the novelist’s characters endure pain, they are, in her mind closer to the state of grace. As aforementioned; when Enoch Emery is resentful, when Motes walks in shoes filled with grass and wraps barbed wire and when Mrs. Flood seems troubled. According to O’Connor, these characters are closer to God’s grace when they are least comfortable (Wood 10). In contrast to her satiric point of view of the human characters that she depicts in her novel, she also shows a catholic’s view of human nature as a theme. O'Connor's descriptions and use of animals in her novel seem to suggest of the inhuman nature that has befallen on humanity (Wood 12). The animals in the zoo and the Gorilla animal costume are some of the perfect examples. Asa Hawks the preacher is indicated to have an appearance of a “grinning mandrill”. Enoch is depicted by the author with the look of a “friendly hound dog” that has light mange. O’Connor describes the museum guard in the uniform similar to Hazel’s, as a “dried-up spider” that was stuck there. The woman, who stands on the steps looking at Hazel, looks at his with “bright flea eyes”. These imperfections are a technique that the novelist uses to dramatize the moral shortcomings in human beings. O’Connor does not directly show the communal aspect of Catholicism as a theme, in the novel. Catholicism in O’Connor’s novel is not shown through the use of priests, Holy Eucharist or the Pope. The novelist uses characters from the spiritual landscape in the south because they are the majority and have a religious intensity being worshippers from Presbyterian and First Baptist (O'Gorman 20). O’Connor was born into a family that was devoutly catholic. The author writes her spiritual experiences penetrating the nature of humanity as it is in reality, and not approaching it directly. O’Connor reflects on the broken conditions of man in reality to characters in bizarre situations, through her observations. The message that O’Connor tries to put across is on the human condition and how life is empty when there is no faith. The representation of characters in Wise Blood is persistently unkind, but it shows the novelist’s representation of herself as a catholic in the southern area that had many Protestants (O'Gorman 19). The novelist’s use of grotesque characters is her key technique, because she is aware that the audience is moved by Shock and not sermons or theology. Placing herself as a Southern Catholic, the novelist, brings out the message that she wants to put across to both the Catholic and Protestant audience. Work Cited Good News Bible. 2nd ed. New York: American Bible Society, 1994. Print. O'Connor, Flannery. Wise Blood. New York: Noonday Pr., 1974. p. 10-47. Print. O'Gorman, Farrell. Peculiar Crossroads: Flannery O'Connor, Walker Percy, and Catholic Vision in Postwar Southern Fiction. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2004. p.19-20. Print. Wood, Ralph. Flannery O'Connor and the Christ-Haunted South. Grand Rapids, Mich: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2004. p.10-12. Print. Read More