Flannery O'Connor, May I have your hand?

 


   When I saw we were reading Flannery O'Connor stories this week, I'm not going to lie, I was thrilled. I had read her work before in my Creative Writing class so I knew what to expect. She takes people down to their lowest place, then kicks them in the face with the holy foot of God. Her stories have a sort of emotionally purging effect as she takes these characters down so low that they can finally look up and see God's face, can notice their own flaws.
     Of the two stories we read, I can't say which I preferred. In A Good Man is Hard to Find, the twisted character of Manly Pointer breaking the arrogant Hulga/Joy and stealing her prosthetic leg is just...appealing to me. Not in a way that I want to meet this character, but in the sense that this is a moment that stays with you after you read it. It makes you step back and just say "What?!" or even "Wow". In Good Country People I was struck by how even in such a short story, each character had such a distinct personality and flaw... And how even the Misfit was someone I could see my own qualities in.
     What a writer this woman is. I wish I could write like her, with the ability to both engross and shock people. Alas, my hand doesn't seem to let such words flow. Perhaps I could just borrow her hand, let something so profound and grotesque become my own creation with her fingers and words. Perhaps she'd even get a kick out of that- rolling over in her grave as I talk about stealing her twisted stories by twisted means. (Though it also sounds a bit like Im asking her to marry me...)

     As a final thought, I found a few short films based off her stories. Of course as the saying goes, the book is better. But The actors portray the characters differently than I imagined so I enjoy the new perspective(even with film's questionable quality)