Wise Blood Character Analysis

The mid-century American south was heavily influenced by Christianity and the desire to look at non-believers with judgmental eyes. Flannery O’Connor often wrote short stories and books on the influence of religion and desperation for a clean appearance. In her book Wise Blood, she wrote about the struggle of one man to abandon his religious upbringing. Hazel (Haze) Motes is a complex character in many subtle ways. Throughout the story, he steers away from his previous self. Haze’s rejection of Christianity led him to grow increasingly more aggressive in his attempt to spread Atheism across a small town in Tennessee.

Hazel Motes is a World War II veteran that was sent home because of a vague medical condition. Motes was born and raised in

a religious family, in fact, his grandfather was a travelling preacher. Being from a religious family, he intended on becoming a preacher as well until he had been enlisted in the military for a few months. “He [Haze] meant to tell anyone in the army who invited him to sin that he was from Eastrod, Tennessee, and…that he was going to be a preacher of the gospel…” (O’Connor p. 17). Throughout the duration of the story, Haze became more opposed to religion and felt a strong disconnect with Christianity. The desire to abandon religion and forget his upbringing caused a stark shift in his ideology and behavior. The majority of the story revolves around Hazel Mote’s Church without Christ which was created to inspire other people to abandon their religious affiliation.
Additionally, Haze becomes increasingly more aggressive. After gaining competition from a phony atheist preacher, Hoover Shoats, Haze became unreasonably angry and defensive of his non-religion. Without any sympathy, Haze ran over the phony man with his car. After Haze stepped out of the car and went to Hoover, it was apparent that Hazel Motes had completely transformed as a person. His desire to abandon Christianity led him to become an unsympathetic murdered. One of the last things Haze said to Hoover was, “Two things I can’t stand- a man that ain’t true and one that mocks what is. You shouldn’t ever have tampered with me if you didn’t want what you got” (O’Connor p. 206). Haze was so intent on discrediting God and religion that he was willing to kill to ensure that no one would stand in his way. Haze represented a lot of war veterans at the time. After experiencing numerous traumas and disasters in a war as brutal as WWII, many soldiers denied the existence of God. Socially, the southern community was incredibly religious so there was a tremendous amount of pushback for the returning soldiers. Other characters changed as well; Sabbath Hawks was portrayed as a sweet, innocent girl who was religiously devoted. Throughout the story she was exposed as being eager to abandon her religion as well. Although other characters were complex, Haze had the most drastic change in his personality.
As children grow into adults, most people do no maintain the same beliefs and ideas.

Haze’s character is similar of many people who are raised in a religious household and feel as if God abandoned them. Additionally, the struggles that Haze encounters may relate back to modern society. Haze had one main goal throughout the majority of the story; he wanted to start up a Church without Christ, but he was unsuccessful for many reasons. The Essex, Haze’s beat up car, prevented him from doing many things in his life because it would constantly stall or stop working. The car is a symbol for the events that hold someone back from achieving their goals. Although, most people tend to blame obstacles for their lack of success, Haze believed his car would better him. The other characters in the story apply to many people as well. Haze met a “blind” preacher who supposedly blinded himself in the name of God. After finding out that the preacher lied about blinding himself, Haze became more frustrated with followers of a religion. The preacher was not strong enough in his faith to blind himself for it which angered Haze who felt that religion was seemingly unnecessary if it only revolved around blind followers. Some readers may be able to relate because they personally know blind followers of

religion.
Hazel Motes was once a dedicated Christian with the intent to become a preacher of gospel, but after experiencing a god-less war, he converted to atheism because he felt religion had abandoned him. His rejection of a holy lifestyle was manifested in his acts of sex and murder. Although he came off as a cold, unemotional man, he craved approval from other characters in the story. His obsession with the ‘blind” preacher and his denial of religion altered his personality tremendously. Hazel Motes looked for people who would be willing to follow him as a means of justifying his personal rejection of Christianity.