HC - Flannery O'Connor - Southern Gothic Lesson

Flannery O'Connor - Southern Gothic

"She would of been a good woman," The Misfit said, "if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life."

- Flannery O'Connor

Combining war and humor is not an easy task, but comedy has always tackled difficult subjects. Many comics relish the uncomfortable moment. Southern writers have established an international reputation by examining their history and setting.

Anything that comes out of the South is going to be called grotesque by the northern reader, unless it is grotesque, in which case it is going to be called realistic.

- Flannery O'Connor

Southern Gothic is a genre of writing that has gloomy and sometimes disturbing elements. Often a character suffers an irreparable, tragic loss. Nonetheless, there is always an edge of the absurd that makes us laugh (though sometimes in horror). Such is the case in the following text, "A Good Man is Hard to Find," by Flannery O'Connor. Both Flannery O'Connor and Mark Twain were Southern writers famous for their humorous but biting language.

Reading Assignment: "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor

Please read the following short story and pay attention to O'Connor's use of comedic elements. From what kind of diction and syntax does the story's humor derive? Are there satirical or sarcastic elements in the text? How does O'Connor use stereotypes--geographical, ethnic, and religious--to achieve humor?

Click here to read "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor. Links to an external site.

 

A scrapbook-type collage illustrating the story "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor. There is a snapshot of a 1950s automobile on a road, a snapshot of a roadside sign warning of the Second Coming of Christ, a mugshot of a haggard and disheveled prisoner, a newspaper clipping with the headline "Misfit Escapes Fed Pen," and the menu from Sammy's diner. All of these elements are laid out over a map of Georgia.

 

"Let's go through Georgia fast so we won't have to look at it much," John Wesley said.

- Flannery O'Connor

The previous two microlessons have provided some practical and theoretical ideas about literary merit. In this microlesson, we will look at two literary devices that are almost always present within works of literary merit: ambiguity, and irony.

Self-Assessment and Practice

Test your knowledge with the questions below.

 

 

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