Commentary On Complacency: Flannery O Connor

Attack on Complacency
Although Flannery O’Connor was physically weak, she was mentally strong. Born into a heavily Catholic family, religion shapes her prose. Feeling that the modern world was out of touch with God, Flannery O’Connor uses indirect characterization, juvenalian satire, and religious motifs to attack religious hypocrisy and apathy in contemporary society in order to wake up the sleeping children of God.
Indirect characterization is prevalent throughout O’Connor’s prose. For example, in “Revelation”, O’Connor writes “Sometimes Mrs. Turpin occupied herself at night naming the classes of people” (Michael). Indirectly this shows that Mrs. Turpin is very judgmental of others and often looks down on them, like when she refers colored people as “the bottom of the heap” (Michael). By using indirect characterization instead of direct, O’Connor allows the audience to perceive the character through their own eyes, rather than her putting it on a platter for them. This ties in with her ambiguous endings, which “[requires]
For example, “pride, intellectualism, [and] materialism” are all traits represented in characters in order to make a point. In one of O’Connor’s well-known stories, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, a grandma is smug and self-complacent. In “Revelation”, Mrs. Turpin is very judgmental of other people, which is hypocritical of a “church-going woman” (Michael). This shows that Mrs. Turpin is ignorant in her beliefs because everyone is equal in God’s eyes. By revealing certain traits and aspects in her characters, Flannery O’Connor uses this as a mean to attack. By showing what happens to her characters, O’Connor shows what is wrong with these aspects and how her characters are afflicted by them. For example, Mrs. Turpin is hit in the face with a book and an unnamed grandmother is killed by a