Beauty is subjective, but in most cases it is measured in the awe it can evoke. Flannery O’Connor was a victim of beauty in the form of a peacock. O’Connor brings to light the magnificence and the allure that drew her to this exceptional creature in her piece, “The King of the Birds”. Looking for fulfillment in raising these birds, O’Connor is defensive and dispassionate throughout her writing. O’Connor’s attitude is the antithesis of the caring and open description of the Canadian prairies provided by Margret Laurence in “Where the World Began”. Although the works of these two women might seem drastically opposed, they are intertwined on multiple levels. On the subject of beauty, they encourage their readers to delve beneath the surface and …show more content…
surpass the superficial expectations of what is beautiful. Together they achieve a new meaning of brilliance that manifests into every facet of their beings. In Flannery O’Connor’s “The King of the Birds”, she takes the reader on a journey from when she is five and a reporter comes “to take a picture of a chicken of mine. This chicken had the distinction of being able to walk either forward or backward” (O’Connor 3) to when she owns over forty peafowl. O’Connor becomes obsessed with obtaining an obscene amount of fowl, seemingly without reason, but it is truly their beauty that draws her to the immaculate creatures. “With his tale spread, he inspires a range of emotions, but I have yet to hear laughter. The usual reaction is silence, at least for a time. The cock opens his tail by shaking himself violently until it is gradually lifted in an arch around him” (O’Connor 9). The imagery O’Connor uses to create the picture of the incredible peacock supports the idea that people tend to see only what is on the outside, but they were not always so beautiful; “…the peacock starts life with an inauspicious appearance. The peabiddy is the color of those large objectionable moths that flutter about light bulbs on summer nights” (O’Connor 7). This reinforces the idea that something incredible can come from something that seems unpromising, if one cares to look hard enough. Due to their lack of grandeur and vibrant coloring, peahens are often overlooked by spectators who come to visit O’Connor’s home, but she notes their importance and even interjects that “I (O’Connor) have never found the peahen unattractive…I have even once or twice though her more attractive than the cock, more subtle and refined…” (O’Connor 7-8). O’Connor transcends the normal expectations of beauty and finds it where there seems to be none. Similarly, Margret Laurence’s Where the World Began creates a wonderfully passionate description of the author’s hometown in Canada. Laurence paints a picture of a captivating town, yet this image is quickly juxtaposed by revealing that, in reality, this place in which she has found so much wonder is actually very plain and uninteresting. “A strange place it was, that place where the world began…A place of jubilation and of mourning, horrible and beautiful. It was, in fact, a small prairie town” (Laurence 164). Through small narratives, Laurence’s passion paired with the pathos she evokes from the audience leads the reader to look deeper into the seemingly simple prairie town and see the beauty within. Laurence also uses contrasting ideas to show that people do not look deep enough to fully understand and appreciate the allure of the small town: “You understood and did not understand” (Laurence 165); “Everyone knew him, but no one knew him” (Laurence 166); these contradictions culminate in the question, “Why on earth did generations of Canadians pretend to believe this country so dull? We knew perfectly well it wasn’t” (Laurence 167). The last question is answered by the other two statements, people will never understand if they do not look further below the surface, seeing only the dull prairie and not appreciating the wonders that it has to offer, and finally, in O’Connor’s case, gawking at the tail of the peacock when really there is much more to be seen and appreciated as a whole. O’Connor and Laurence perpetuate the beauty of their individual subjects.
Whether the beauty is expected as in the case of O’Connor or unlikely in the case of Laurence, both authors manifest themselves in their subjects. These women boarder on the metaphysical as they project themselves into their pieces. O’Connor mentions several times that she sees herself as one of the peafowl, yet, for the most part, they ignore that she is present. “If I refer to them as ‘my’ peafowl, the pronoun is legal, nothing more. I am the menial, at the beck and squawk of any feather worthy who wants service” (O’Connor 7). O’Connor suffered from lupus and spent much of her time on her farm, a slave to the peafowl and a slave to her illness. It is not surprising that she would like to feel like she belonged to something bigger as in being one of the birds. One could argue that the birds were a distraction from the illness that plagued her, but they also did much more. As someone who was an introvert and spent most of her time on the farm, the birds stood for the part of herself that would never be revealed to the word. O’Connor describes the peacock as a “careful and dignified investigator” showing himself to only the people he deems worthy, similarly, O’Connor let these magnificent birds speak for her hiding the weakest parts of herself behind the brilliance of the peafowl (O’Connor 12). Unlike O’Connor who fully immerges herself in her subject, Margret Laurence left her hometown only to return and fully understand its true beauty. Laurence is in and of her hometown, therefore her “eyes were formed there” (Laurence 164) and she projects inserts herself into the description of her hometown. Laurence finds solace in writing and in her town itself. She writes, “But in raging against our (the town’s) injustices, our stupidities, I do so as family, as I did, and still do in writing, about those aspects of my town which I hated and which are always in some ways aspects of myself.” Laurence
sees herself reflected in the small town and the small town is reflected in her. She recognizes the symbols in nature that have come to represent who she is as a person. Flannery O’Connor and Margret Laurence transcend the simple idea that people are attracted to spectacular things and argue that some of the most beautiful things are underappreciated. O’Connor challenges people to look beyond the captivating eyes that stare from the radiant tail of the peacock. Laurence argues that her small Canadian town might seem dull to many people, but to her and to others who find the time to stop and appreciate these things, it is full of adventure. The symbiotic relationships between O’Connor and her peafowl and Laurence and her town is clear through their narratives, and the importance of said relationships are lost upon people who do not care to look hard enough.
The biographic features of a writer usually have an influence on the development of his or her literary creation. The biographic influence is especially strong on the literary work of Flannery O'Connor. Her life and experiences are reflected through her work in themes, characters, descriptions and style. There are two important features of her life, which had marked the short stories and novels of Flannery O'Connor: The South of the United States and her religion, Catholicism. These two aspects are reflected in her vision of life, society and above all in the vision of the human race.
Flannery O’Connor was born on March 25, 1925 in Georgia. She was the only child to her parents, Edward and Regina O’Connor. Two years away from Flannery’s adulthood , her father passed away due to a rare disease, lupus. At the time of her father’s death O’Connor was in Milledgeville, Ga. It can be inferred that she was able to cope up with her father’s death very soon as she didn’t speak of his death much and also resumed to be an active part of her high school’s extra-curricular activities such as painting, English club and also band. A year after her father’s demise she graduated from high school and enrolled herself in Georgia State College to do major in English and sociology. It was during this period that she adapted the name ‘Flannery’. After getting bachelor degree from college she relocated to Iowa City where she attended University of Iowa and also applied for a job as teacher within the campus of her university. In the year of 1947, she eventually obtained her Masters degree in the field of Fine Arts. In spite of the fact that she obtained her Masters degree in 1947, her first work, “The Geranium” was published a year before that and it was just the dawn of her fame. It was merely an origination of the classics that followed later on. Lupus was genetically acquired by O’Connor from her father. Things were going well until end of 1950 in which she was struck by a severe lupus attack. O’Connor was determined about her writing and thus , even such a huge attack didn’t divert her attention off her passion of writing. There was no looking back for her as she kept on publishing her works. In point of fact , it was only after her attack, she produc...
Annie Dillard portrays her thoughts differently in her passage, incorporating a poetic sense that is carried through out the entire passage. Dillard describes the birds she is viewing as “transparent” and that they seem to be “whirling like smoke”. Already one could identify that Dillard’s passage has more of poetic feel over a scientific feel. This poetic feeling carries through the entire passage, displaying Dillard’s total awe of these birds. She also incorporates word choices such as “unravel” and that he birds seem to be “lengthening in curves” like a “loosened skein”. Dillard’s word choice implies that he is incorporating a theme of sewing. As she describes these birds she seems to be in awe and by using a comparison of sewing she is reaching deeper inside herself to create her emotions at the time.
The females begin responding “stiffly” rather than “quietly”(7) as before. This adjective usage serves to support the speech even more by allowing readers to see the progression from silence to a bold rebellion in the women regarding their husbands, for “by hiding the canary Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters are also going against their husbands” (Bee2). Indeed, this act was the major act of defiance that secured the women’s strengthened devotions to each other rather than their husbands. Peters especially undergoes a drastic transformation when she eventually joins in as “support of her fellow oppressed women” (Block B 1). When, at the climax of the story, the bird is hidden from the men in the sentimental tin box, Glaspell exhibits the tension with the selection of detail. She chooses to focus on the clammy hands of Mrs. Peters as she stuffs the tin away and the quivering voice of Mrs. Hale as she denies knowing any information about the crime. The descriptions of the seemingly miniscule and weakening objects around her house match the “quiet desperation” (Schotland 3) Foster repressed until it overflowed the night before. Considering that the adjectives show how burdensome it is for the women to conceal the evidence, it truly demonstrates how strong the relationships between them has grown based
Mary Oliver’s unique responses to the owls illustrate the complexity of nature by displaying its two sides. Mary Oliver at first enjoys owls and all they have to offer, yet she later emphasizes her fear of a similar animal. The visual imagery she uses in her descriptions
According to the Louisiana society, Edna Pontellier has the ideal life, complete with two children and the best husband in the world. However, Edna disagrees, constantly crying over her feelings of oppression. Finally, Edna is through settling for her predetermined role in society as man’s possession, and she begins to defy this. Edna has the chance to change this stereotype, the chance to be “[t]he bird that would soar above the level plain of tradition and prejudice” (112). The use of a metaphor comparing Edna to a bird proves her potential to rise above society’s standards and pave the pathway for future women. However, Edna does not have “strong [enough] wings” (112). After Robert, the love of her life and the man she has an affair with, leaves, Edna becomes despondent and lacks an...
Raiger, Michael. “’’Large and Startling Figures’: The Grotesque and the Sublime in the Short Stories of Flannery O’Connor.’” Seeing into the Life of Things: Essays on Literature and Religious Experience (1998): 242-70. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Janet Witalec.
Throughout history, the story of womankind has evolved from struggles to achievements, while some aspects of the lives of women have never changed. Poet Dorianne Laux writes about the female condition, and women’s desire to be married and to have a home and children. She also seems to identify through her poetry with the idea that women tend to idealize the concept of marriage and settling down and she uses her poetry to reach out to the reader who may have similar idyllic views of marriage or the married lifestyle. Though Dorianne Laux’s poem “Bird” reads very simply, it is actually a metaphor for an aspect of this female condition.
By presenting the competing sets of industrial and rural values, Jewett's "A White Heron" gives us a rich and textured story that privileges nature over industry. I think the significance of this story is that it gives us an urgent and emphatic view about nature and the dangers that industrial values and society can place upon it and the people who live in it. Still, we are led to feel much like Sylvia. I think we are encouraged to protect nature, cherish our new values and freedoms, and resist the temptations of other influences that can tempt us to destroy and question the importance of the sublime gifts that living in a rural world can bestow upon us.
Since its first appearance in the 1886 collection A White Heron and Other Stories, the short story A White Heron has become the most favorite and often anthologized of Sarah Orne Jewett. Like most of this regionalist writer's works, A White Heron was inspired by the people and landscapes in rural New England, where, as a little girl, she often accompanied her doctor father on his visiting patients. The story is about a nine-year-old girl who falls in love with a bird hunter but does not tell him the white heron's place because her love of nature is much greater. In this story, the author presents a conflict between femininity and masculinity by juxtaposing Sylvia, who has a peaceful life in country, to a hunter from town, which implies her discontent with the modernization?s threat to the nature.
Mrs. McIntyre is a divorced and widowed woman who has learned to depend only on her own strength during the day to day operating of her farm. She has created a comfortable world to exist in, and she fears change in that world. Mrs. McIntyre's lack of spiritual dimension stems from this constancy of her surroundings. She has never been challenged by her circumstances and was thus never forced to examine her spiritual beliefs and their depth. We can see her fear of change when she speaks of the peacocks. She if afraid to let them all d...
Bird usually portrays an image of bad luck that follows afterwards and in this novel, that is. the beginning of all the bad events that occur in the rest of the novel. It all started when Margaret Laurence introduced the life of Vanessa MacLeod. protagonist of the story, also known as the granddaughter of a calm and intelligent woman. I am a woman.
Feeley, Kathleen, S.S.N.D. Flannery O'Connor: Voice of the Peacock. New York: Fordham University Press; 2 edition, 2010.
Nature is often a focal point for many author’s works, whether it is expressed through lyrics, short stories, or poetry. Authors are given a cornucopia of pictures and descriptions of nature’s splendor that they can reproduce through words. It is because of this that more often than not a reader is faced with multiple approaches and descriptions to the way nature is portrayed. Some authors tend to look at nature from a deeper and personal observation as in William Wordsworth’s “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”, while other authors tend to focus on a more religious beauty within nature as show in Gerard Manley Hopkins “Pied Beauty”, suggesting to the reader that while to each their own there is always a beauty to be found in nature and nature’s beauty can be uplifting for the human spirit both on a visual and spiritual level.
Wright was described as a beautiful women filled with such joy and life until she married John Wright. Mrs. Peter’s and Mrs. Hale feels sorry for her because her husband treated her so bad. Due to female bonding and sympathy, the two women, becoming detectives, finds the truth and hides it from the men. The play shows you that emotions can play a part in your judgement. Mrs. Peter’s and Mrs. Hale felt sorry that Mrs. Wright had one to keep her company no kids and she was always left alone at home. “yes good; he didn’t drink, and kept his word as well as most, I guess, and paid his debt. But he was a hard man, Mrs. Peters just to pass the time of day with him. Like a raw wind that goes to the bone. I should of think she would have wanted a bird. But what you suppose went with it?” Later on in the play the women find out what happens to the bird. The bird was killed the same way Mrs. Wright husband which leads to the motive of why he was killed. Mrs. Wright was just like the bird beautiful but caged no freedom not being able to live a life of her own. Always stuck in the shadows of her husband being told what to do and