A Violent Illumination Of Salvation :: essays research papers fc

A Violent Illumination of redemptionFlannery OConnor uses violence to return characters to reality and prepare themto accept their moment of grace. The hot Encyclopedia Britannica defines graceas the "spontaneous, unmerited gift of the divine or the divine influenceoperating in man for his regeneration and sanctification" (401). At any cost, asoul must find salvation. OConnor states, "In my deliver stories I have found thatviolence is strangely capable of move my characters to reality andpreparing them to accept their moment of grace" (qtd.in Bain 407). DorothyWalters, Associate Professor of incline at Wichita State University, believesOConnors blurtgle theme is the battle between theology and the devil "dueling for thehuman soul in the ancient clash" (105).The spark of salvation d matchless violent means is essential because "bothOConnor and her deity are ironists unyielding . . . her heros are willfulcharacters who must be humbled in learning that the will of God must prevail"(Master-pieces 497).OConnor portrays two varieties of sinners who possess either excessive pride oraggressive evil traits. The cost of redemption is high. OConnor violentlyshocks her characters, illuminates their shortcomings, and prepares them forredemption as seen in "A adept Man is Hard to Find," " manifestation," "The River,"and "The Lame Shall Enter First."Walters reasons, "The instruction of pride through lessons of humility is, ineach story, the means by which the soul is brisk for its necessaryillumination by the Holy Spirit" (73). The grandmother in "A Good Man is Hard toFind" and Rudy Turpin in "Revelation" is each convinced that she is a lady ofelevated status. When threatened by superior beings, their self-imposed facadesfall. Inherent human weaknesses are not tolerated and the faulty soul is damnedor violently returned to reality (Walters 72).     In The clothing of Being, OConnoremphasizes "My devil has a name . . . His name is Lucifer, hes a fallenangel, his sin is pride, and his aim is destruction of the Divine plan" (456).The grandmother is extremely exultant and identifies herself as a "lady" asOConnor reveals in the clothing verbal descriptionThe childrens mother still had on slacks . . . but the grandmother had on anavy blue sky straw sailor hat with a bunch of white violets on the brim and a navyblue dress . . . trimmed with lace . . . In case of an accident, any one seeingher dead on the highway would know at at once that she was a lady. (A Good 11)When the grandmothers trivial scheming causes the family to leave the paved