The South in O’Connor’s Stories

Flannery O’ Connor was greatly influenced by her origin. She often wrote about the South. Her stories were set in Southern States and her characters were Southern folk from small rural towns. Her characters are typical Southerners: from their faith to the way they talked. Religion is a big part of southern culture and also plays a big role in O’ Connor’s stories. There was also a lot of violence at the time O’ Connor was growing up; this transcends to her stories. She was also great at grasping the dialect of southerners. The religion, the violence, and the dialect of the south can be particularly observed in A Good Man is Hard to Find and in Greenleaf, two of her many short stories.

About Flannery O’ Connor:

Flannery O’ Connor was born on March 23rd, 1925 in Savannah, Georgia. She was born into a devout Catholic family. At the tender age of 15, she suffered a great loss; her father died of lupus. This loss greatly devastated her but she overcame it and continued through high school and eventually college. She graduated from Georgia State College with a Social Sciences degree in 1945. She then began studying journalism at the prestigious University of Iowa. At the University of Iowa she came into contact with several important people that helped jumpstart her career. O’ Connor’s life was advancing better than planned until she was diagnosed with lupus in 1951. She battled with lupus for 14 years. During this time she was able to complete most of her now famous works. She wrote two novels and 32 short stories. She never married nor had any children. She died in 1964 at the young age of 39 and was buried in Milledgeville, Georgia.

Religion:

Religion frames many of O’ Connor’s stories as well as the history of the South. The...

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...and cold style of writing. Her writing has been described as grotesque and brutal. She was known to write stories where the main characters are brutally killed. Violence is often present in O’ Connor’s stories. Violence was also a part of Southern life in the 1900s. Religion was another important factor in O’ Connor’s stories and also has major roles in her stories, Greenleaf and A Good Man is Hard to Find. A big sign that the South is the setting in these stories is the speech of the people. Most of the characters have typical Southerner speech.

Works Cited

Bernardo, Karen. "Flannery O'Connor's "Greenleaf"." Storybites. 1 April 2011 .

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. "A Good Man is Hard to Find." Booth, Alison and Kelly J. Mays. The Norton Introduction to Literture. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2011. 608- 619.