The Dazzle of Literary Logic "Of the modes of persuasion...there are three kinds. The first...personal character of the speaker; the second on putting the audience into a certain frame of mind; the third on the proof"-Aristotle. People have always been using multiple tactics to persuade their fellow humans. They set up an image, explain a truth, or put their audience in a state of mind to achieve their goals. They may want to entertain, convince, or show an audience meaning. It is the same for authors. Although authors can't speak their words have power to dazzle the mind! They can put their readers in a their desired state of mind, using structure and logic to achieve their purpose. We will learn how the Flannery O'Connor and Amy Tan use …show more content…
Throughout the story there are subtle, but important meanings that are shown as important through repetition of relating themes; Death being a very prominent one. For example we see an old lover of Grandma, Mr. Teagarden, dies; Grandma wears feminine clothes so that “anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady."; “Jesus was the only One that ever raised the dead,” the Misfit Said; the Misfits father’s death, Grandma pointing out the graveyard in the cotton field. Here we see importance in death through inconspicuous repetition. But what about finding the meaning behind a single occurrence? “"Why you're one of my babies. You're one of my own children!" She reached out and touched him on the shoulder. The Misfit sprang back as if a snake had bitten him and shot her three times through the chest.” Or “"She would of been a good woman," The Misfit said, "if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life." These dark important meanings, subtle or prominent, are very important to the author but have no absolute meaning to the reader. We know the author wishes to entertain the reader, but what are the meanings behind these important occurrences, and themes? Maybe they are personal feelings Flannery doesn't want to reveal, maybe she wants the reader to labor for the meanings, maybe she want to find meaning relative to the person. This is a …show more content…
For example: A large story is told, but broken up into smaller disjointed parts; vivid examples are given, but to show a truth through personal story. Reading Amy's story is more complex than GM because to read the story you need to follow her meanings. To assist this MT asks questions like, "Why are there few Asian Americans enrolled in creative writing programs? Why do so many Chinese students go into engineering?". She will place dilemmas like "I've heard other terms used, "limited English," for example. But they seem just as bad, as if everything is limited, including people's perceptions of the limited English speaker." And thoughts that encourage like minded thinking, "I think my mother's English almost had an effect on limiting my possibilities in life as well." Nothing similar is found in "A Good Man Is Hard To Find". The purpose is different, so the structure and logic is
While reading Flannery O’Connor “A Good Man is Hard to Find” we read that a family of five are on a roadtrip to Florida where they go every year. We have The Grandmother who derailed her family from the actual road to see a house she thought was in those parts of town. When all of a sudden her helpers are the murders she is afraid of. The murder “The Misfit” kills off the rest of her family and leaves her to dwell in her sorrow that she will be next. The Grandmother tries to maneuver her way out of dying by sweet talking The Misfit into thinking she can love him as her own child and that he doesn’t have to kill anymore. When she tries to reach for him he moved back and shot her. The Grandmother didn’t want him to be violent anymore and thought
Flannery O’Connor’s use of the protagonist in the three stories “Everything That Rises Must Converge”, “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, and “Revelation” are all expressed through characters that do not fit the typical protagonist mold. As you will see the three protagonists have many similarities. Mrs. Turpin and Julian’s mothers similarities are out in the open and easy to recognize. On the other hand the grandmother’s similarities are more subdued, but she does share them with the other women.
Anyone who has had the opportunity to take time to read and work with the fiction of Flannery O 'Connor, cannot fail to be impressed by the level of quality in its production. According to Michael Meyer in his book The Bedford Introduction to literature, “Despite her brief life and relatively modest output her work is regarded among the most distinguished American fiction of the mid-twentieth century.” She wrote two novels and a total of thirty one short stories (420). Critics, reviewers, including sophisticated readers use the word powerful to describe her work. Firstly because of its quality, for example the mordantly comic characters, the strong narrative lines and the violence which are depicted so brilliantly. Secondly the totality of her vision and the entire expression of her imagination are combine to generate her literary power (Asal, 1). During her brief career the most predominant form of writing for Flannery was short stories, what exactly is a
Throughout the United States’ history, a rift has existed between the North and the South. In “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor, we receive the perspective of the grandmother, an old southern woman struggling to find people who share her sentiments. However, O’Connor does not mean for the reader to feel empathy for the grandmother. The grandmother frequently makes mistakes like causing the car to crash, or identifying the Misfit rather than keeping silent. O’Connor uses the negative aspects of the grandmother to criticize southern conservatism.
Mary Flannery O'Connor was born in Savannah, Georgia, on March 25, 1925. Until she graduated in 1945 she was known as Mary Flannery. At this point she felt that Mary Flannery didnt seem suitable, on one occasion she described it as sounding like the name of an Irish washerwoman. From this point on, she was known as just Flannery OConnor. Flannery is most recognized for her short stories but at the same time had great interest in cartooning and drawing. She would paint over any cracks in the walls of her home so that her mother would not cover them up with paintings from relatives. As a student at Georgia State College for women Flannery displayed her interests in art by painting murals on the walls of the student union building. Flannery often accredited her father, Edward OConnor as being one of the first and most important influences in her life. Edward OConnor not only encouraged his daughter to write but to explore her artistic ability as well.
When you sit down to read anything that is trying to persuade you, you are being subjected to the three modes of persuasion that have been outlined by Aristotle in his book “rhetoric” (Meyer). Ethos; the mode of persuasion that attempts to change your opinion by using the author 's credibility, Pathos; appeals to your feelings and finally logos; that uses logic to try and sway your opinion. “On Teenagers and Tattoos”, an article written by Andres Martin, is an example of a persuasive work that can affect an audience very well and it does this by effectively using these three modes of persuasion.
In Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” a family of six set out on a vacation to Florida while an extremely dangerous criminal is on the loose. The family takes the grandmother, who is outraged that the family is traveling while The Misfit is scanning the countryside. Throughout the short story, O’Connor drops many hints to the reader, ultimately leading to the terrifying climax. Foreshadowing is more commonly noticed the second time a story is read as opposed to the first. Readers will pick up on the hints that foreshadow the events to come. Foreshadowing is used when grandmother mentions The Misfit in the opening paragraph, when grandmother dresses formally in case of an accident, and when the graves are noticed in the cottonfield.
In “Revelation” by Flannery O’Connor, the fictional main character Ruby divides people in society by both their racial and socioeconomic positions. In other nonfiction division and classification stories the authors divide and classify chance, inanimate objects, and the types of people who eat food off of other people’s plates. “Revelation” differs from nonfiction division and classification because in addition to creating a division and classification system, it also shows the effect the system has on the narrator and those who surround her.
In Flannery O’Connor’s short story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, the definition of the word “good” seems to change and develop as the story progresses. By the time the Misfit says, “‘would have been a good woman if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life’” (par 140) to the grandmother after he has killed her, the word has a whole different meaning.
Unwind takes place in a dystopian environment where everyone is divided on their actions and come up with a solution. Their solution includes terrorizing kids and sending them to their death from a short life. If their children is unworthy, they have a right to sent them to be unwound where their body parts are split and given to someone else. If you live in a state home, then you have to work hard to become someone and make yourself worthy. There are many kids who have guts to escape until they’re 18 even though they know it will be hard. Connor is one of these runaways who had a troubled past leading his parents to sign him to be unwound. Throughout
Every source has an audience, and there is expected to have exigence and constraints. Everything is connected with each other, there has to be a rhetor that will teach about exigence, audience and constraints. After that, what was learned is going to be put into practice on texts or in our daily life (Gorrell 398). Throughout the letter, the mother used the same technique to approach her propositions to her daughter. She used appropriate language to obtain her daughter’s attention, there was exigence because her tone of speech throughout the letter was firm and the constraints were stated by talking about the pros and cons. Understanding the main argument is essential in persuading someone. Performing a rhetorical analysis is always needed,
Flannery O’Connor is most recognized for her southern gothic style of literature. Since she is a devout Catholic, O’Connor’s writings are also highly saturated with the presence of her personal faith. She placed special emphasis on her characters when writing, and in almost all of her short stories, O’Connor writes of characters with a mental, physical, or spiritual disability. This style of characterization can be referred to as grotesque characterization. Flannery O’Connor uses grotesque attributes in her characters to represent their salvation or lack thereof.
Back in the when segregation was the norm, many people were extremely closed minded. Many lived their lives with their preconceived ideas of the environment around them, judgment was spoken aloud, and equality did not exist. Many people refused to be around individuals that they found to be different and/or did not fit society’s standards of what the norms were. For instance, the characters that will be compared have a very close minded view of others and were quick to assume that w. The purpose of this paper is to compare the character known as the husband in the “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver to Julian’s mother in “Everything That Rises Must Converge” by Flannery O’Connor.
The main recurring theme in Flannery O’Connor’s stories is the use of violence towards characters in order to give them an eye-opening moment in which they finally realize their true self in relation to the rest of society and openly accept insight into how they should act or think. This theme of violence can clearly be seen in three works by Flannery O’Connor: A Good Man is Hard to Find, Good Country People, and Everything That Rises Must Converge.
It is not the tragic subject matter of the text that is of primary interest - but rather the manner in which the plot is developed. The story line progresses as if the reader is "unpeeling an onion."