Flannery O Connor The Displaced Person Analysis

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Purpose & Technique Essay Flannery O’Connor, in her essay named “Novelist and Believer”, writes, “Being a novelist and not a philosopher or theologian, I shall have to enter this discussion at a much lower level and proceed alone a much narrower course than that held up to us here as desirable” (563). O’Connor, though not a theologian, was very much concerned with Christian thought and the various ways in which it was expressed. She believed strongly in drawing from her roots of Judaeo-Christian tradition to create literary works that would portray Christian values and ideals. O’Connor, concerning the effects that her religious upbringing has had in her writing, writes, “For my part, I shall have to remain well within Judaeo-Christian tradition.…show more content…
According to Epperson & Hall, in their book named Encounters, “Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964), born in Savannah, Georgia, spent most of her life in the small town of Milledgeville, where she graduated from Georgia State College for Women in 1945” (563). Since O’Connor was raised in a small town, in the South, it seems appropriate that she would write a story that displays socioeconomic and social situations in the South, during the time in which she lived. However, many literary critics speculate that O’Connor often had a bigger picture in mind when creating her stories, which were often meant to portray a Christian ideal and/or worldview. This idea is supported by O’Connor’s statement in “Novelist and Believer,” which reads, “The good novelist not only finds a symbol for feelings, he finds a symbol and a way of lodging it which tells the intelligent readers whether this feeling is adequate or inadequate, whether it is moral or immoral, whether it is good or evil. And his theology, even in its most remote reaches, will have a direct bearing on this” (564). With this in mind, it’s likely that O’Connor’s intent, when writing “The Displaced Person, was to write an amusing country story that reveals realities of peoples’ mindsets in the South, as well as depictions of grace from a Christ inspired…show more content…
The story is centered on a man named Mr. Guizac, who immigrated to the United States of America to find work and escape persecution in Poland. Because Mr. Guizac was more efficient at working the farm than any of the other employees; tension was created between him and the other workers. Mrs. McIntyre, the old woman who hired him, was delighted to have him, at first, but as the story progresses her disposition towards him becomes unwelcoming, to say the least. Mrs. McIntyre finally reaches her tolerance limit when Mr. Guizac offers Sulk—a black worker—the opportunity to marry his white cousin. People, such as Mr. Shortley—who was effectively replaced by Mr. Guizac, became critical of Mr. Guizac and wanted him gone for good. Towards the end of the story Mr. Guizac dies from an “accident” that could have been avoided if any of the people present, including Mrs. McIntyre, chose to speak up. At the end of the story, Mrs. McIntyre ends up bedridden and loses the help of her workers (585-603). Mr. Guizac came from a foreign land, so to speak. People had heard talk of Mr. Guizac and were eager to know what he was like, when he finally came. His work was marvelous and his ways were vastly different than any of those around him. Eventually, people became jealous and angry at him—though he did no wrong—and sought to get rid of
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    A critical study has been carried out in the earlier chapters to explore Flannery O'Connor's fictional works with respect to the study of human relationships and the nuances of the truth-seeking concerns exemplifying interesting realities. The study recorded in this thesis illustrates that there is a repetition of retreat patterns in human relationships on the canvas of the familial, societal and spiritual altitudes. In O’Connor’s fiction, human relationships are understood to be perverted and strange

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