Literature: Flannery O’Connor and Chuck Palahniuk´s Work

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Recommended: Symbolism in Flannery O’Connor, ‘A Good Man is Hard to Find’

A short story is a work of literature that is shorter than a novel. Although some may believe the length may not be enough to develop a noble story, in these few pages an author can pack a tight punch that will leave one in awe, disgust, or utter sadness. Whether there is a moral of the story or it is simply for the reader’s enjoyment, each author has their own style of conveying a message through their work in very diverse ways. Through Flannery O’Connor and Chuck Palahniuk’s works we can see this very evidently.
Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find is a short story about a family who is shot and killed by a criminal, named The Misfit, on a family road trip. This story is filled with themes such as immorality, subtle manipulation, and egocentrism. Through the character known simply as ‘The Grandmother’, I believe that O’Connor’s goal is to try and enlighten the reader of society’s faults. Much like The Grandmother, we as humans have the tendency to sacrifice the security of everyone else just to satisfy our own welfare.
On the other hand, Guts by Chuck Palahniuk has got to be the complete opposite when it comes to themes and plots with what seems to me, to have absolutely no moral. This story is broken into three detailed stories that focus on the mishaps of masturbation. Chuck Palahniuk approaches a subject that is very sensitive and makes it even touchier by describing the horrors of masturbation gone haywire. As the stories progressed, they got more sickening. I cringed as I read this story. Palahniuk was able to make me physically feel the events through the sentences by using just enough detail to make me wonder what would happen in the next excerpt.
One boy used a carrot slathered in petroleum jelly to stimulat...

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...le comes together to make his readings more of an electrifying experience than reading a story. Palahniuk has the ability to get all of the reader’s senses involved while reading his outlandish narratives. To be able to physically feel the twists and turns in your stomach as he recites sentences like, “It's not a snake. It's my large intestine, my colon pulled out of me. What doctors call, prolapsed. It's my guts sucked into the drain.” Throughout the story, he uses choppy sentence structure to get his point across quickly. This style of writing manages to provide a sort of mysterious overtone because it gives just enough to intrigue the reader. Guts is a difficult story to read, especially if you have a weak stomach, but with the structure of Chuck Palahniuk’s sentences and the obscene diction, it leaves you gasping for air and begging for more in the same breath.

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