Top-Rated Free Essay
Preview

Comparison of Frank O'Connor Short Stories

Powerful Essays
1031 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Comparison of Frank O'Connor Short Stories
Marc D’Angelo
Mr. Bohannon
October 22, 2012
Essay: Comparison of Frank O’Connor’s Three Short Stories In the three short stories written by Frank O’Connor, he depicts the narrator’s relationship with family similar in his short stories. In all three short stories, “My Oedipus Complex”, “First Confession”, and “Masculine Protest”, O’Connor portrays the narrator as a young aged boy whose relationship with each family member has a unique similarity throughout each of these short stories. Frank O’Connor illustrates a struggle of close relationship between the narrator and his family due to the fact that O’Connor portrays some family members to act unjust and shows a deeper conflict with each member. The narrator is seemed to have a sense of intelligence and standpoint on his relations with the people around him in whom O’Connor relates each story to his own family life. Frank O’Connor illustrates a relationship between mother son in this case the narrator and the mother on a relationship that is unique in a way of a caring relationship but one that is tragic. The short stories, “My Oedipus Complex” and “Masculine Project”, the relationship of the narrator and mother are similar in which the mother is irritating and insecure. In “My Oedipus Complex”, the mother demands the narrator due to the fact that she seems like all she wants to do is please her husband and through her actions to the narrator, her stubbornness and cruelty gives the narrator no respect or regard for his mother. The narrator is annoyed and sees right through his mother’s issues who let it out on her son. “Masculine Project” also demonstrates a mother-son disconnection because of the mother’s careless, abandoned attitude. With no consideration of her child, the narrator runs away and symbolizes a disconnect for his mother. An unjust treatment from a provider causes the narrator to have a guarded, mature conscience, and a better grasp of seeing through the issues of his family. Frank O’Connor’s short story “First Confession” shows the relationship of the mother and the narrator as more of a success due to the fact that the mother does not appreciate her mother. In that contraception, it shows how O’Connor illustrates a family lineage of bad relationship. Frank O’Connor does on the other hand symbolize a unique connection of the narrator and his father throughout each of the short stories. The father figure is depicted in each short story as, “a far”. The father is not completely connected with the narrator because his presence seems to lack throughout the narrator’s life. This may be because Frank O’Connor’s father was an alcoholic and showed distant relations with his father due to his addiction to alcohol and struggle to be connected with his son and family. In “Masculine Project”, O’Connor portrays the father to be involved in work and the narrator not seeing his father often. In “Oedipus Complex”, the narrator does not see his father because his father is in the Army. On the other hand, the fathers play a significant role in sharing a mind like the narrator. At the end of “Masculine Project”, the narrator feels a longing connection with his father when he has run away and very far away from his mother. He feels a sense of love towards his father so he calls him to help him make his way back home. The father responds with a very considerate loving tone and gets his son on a train home. The narrator finds out that his father to once run away from home and symbolizes a unique experience shared with father and son. The narrator relationship with his father in “My Oedipus Complex” is a distinction in which the character analyzes his father as someone who alienates both the narrator and the mother. The mother seems to be drawn to the father with a fetish of pleasing him. The narrator sort of rebels against her mother’s insecurity towards the father and reacts in a disrespectful manner to his father. The child is longing for a healthy relationship with his father but soon gets over it and reacts freshly back to his father. Suddenly due to the narrator being fed up with the lack of respect given by his father, the father comes at peace and at more respect for his son at the end of the story. The narrator’s relationship with his family members represents a concept of manhood in how each story shows growth in the narrator due to his family’s relations. A poor relation with one family member throws off the consistency of the family in which the narrator experiences. Through the narrator’s experiences and on how everything works out for the narrator in all three of the stories, the narrator matures and creates a better understanding of his life and family. A lesson is learned almost through each narrator experience of views of respect the narrator has for his family and how his family’s actions affect his view on life and how the narrator will go about things. A true sense of dignity is brought out through the narrator by learning from actions and experiences in which his family plays that entire role. In conclusion, Frank O’Connor bases each story off his own life experiences with a strong-willed rigorous mother who acted as head enforcement for Frank O’Connor. In his three short stories, it shows how the respect level for his mother was high, but at the same time a sense of disappoint in his mothers actions towards O’Connor. In the stories, O’Connor expresses a true sorrow on the relationship of the narrator and mother. The relationship between O’Connor and his father is distant and the short stories can show that O’Connor had a longing for his father. The stories signified how the narrator and father’s relationship struggled due to the father being such a distant figure to the narrator. The narrator can be showed as a little frustrated because of a connection the narrator feels he has with his father, but the connection just cannot get through. Frank O’Connor demonstrates in these three short stories a concept of taking his personal life and reflecting it through his short stories.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The main idea of Maida’s article is to tie together and explain the common literary devices apparent in Flannery O’Connor’s short stories. There are four reoccurring devices in O’Connor’s work: first, the eyes, which reflect an individuals innermost thoughts and emotions; then the tree-line which symbolizes the division of understanding between the world understood by an individual and the world beyond their comprehension; then the color purple which represents emotional or physical trauma which is often evoked alongside the Sun, which represents divine intervention. In describing these devices Maida also describes the arc of O’Connor’s characters as one in which they begin their journey with a sinful or selfish understanding of life and ultimately are bestowed with an enlightened understanding of life after embracing the love of God, Christian values, or both.…

    • 614 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    During her lifetime, Southerners were very prejudiced towards people of other lifestyles and races. They believed that people who were less fortunate were less of a person than they were; therefore, people were labeled as different and placed into different social classes. The South provided O 'Connor with the images she needed for her characters. This can easily be identified in her short story titled “Revelation. The characters in the story are identified by physical characteristics and some are even identified with racial terms. . In addition to her Southern upbringing another primary factor throughout her writings is evidence of here strong Catholic convictions, and the influences that sin has on mankind. My goal throughout this paper is to show how her writing style reflects her convictions…

    • 876 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    It is important to understand that some conflicts in literature might not always be obvious. Considering how an author addresses conflict via literary techniques can reveal other more complex conflicts or different kinds of conflicts that interact in multiple ways. Analyzing those more complicated elements can help discover what literature represents about the human experience and condition. The purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast the poem of Juan Delgado and the story of Tim O’Brien.…

    • 652 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    We all know bowling, with modern technology, but have you ever used a lopsided ball to ‘kiss’ jacks? Maybe even heard of fighting roosters with blades attached to their feet. You can see how strange and unusual the sports they played back then were, but to them it was a popular form of entertainment for all. In this Elizabethan Era is when sports just started to become popular with players, and spectators (Alchin "Elizabethan Sports"). Many of Elizabethan era sports were dangerous and violent, one even watching trained bulldogs kill a bull. Three of the main sport categories were blood, team, and individual sports. These inhumane sports were considered ‘blood sports’ due to the blood and gore (Davis Life in Elizabethan days 2007). The spectators…

    • 147 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The author uses different literary devices, including point of view and diction to show a character’s struggle in choice between regret and heroism. His use of first person point of view is used to convey regret, while his use of diction is used to show heroism.…

    • 391 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    People always strive for perfection, yet constantly fall short. Flannery O’Connor presents life as that of unredeemable pain, and that humans are simply organisms who are violent contradictions. Flannery O’Connor’s stories often feature characters that are similar in many aspects, facing different situations. “A Good Man is Hard to Find” and “Everything That Rises Must Converge” depict much of what O’Connor is famous for in the literary world. Through the use of theme, style, and symbolism, Flannery makes it clear the powerlessness and impotence of humans and the insignificance of their desires, dreams and pretentions.…

    • 559 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    One of the first things we realized as readers in these two literary works is that in both of the stories the major characters have a real sense for lacking fulfilment in their everyday lives. In O’Connor’s short story, “The Lame Shall Enter First,” a major character is…

    • 1524 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    O’Connor wrote more than a story based on a family trip that took a wrong turn for destruction, but it was her perspective on cultural, religion, and the fundamentals of life. The cultural aspects of the Grandmother was a polite, respectable, and religious woman that believed in traditional values. On the other hand, her son, Bailey did not seem to share those same attributes especially when it came to his wife and kids. Bailey’s kids, June Star and John Wesley were very disrespectful and did not like authority.…

    • 706 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The three stories to be discussed in this essay are “The Bouquet” by Charles W. Chesnutt, “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and “Gimpel the Fool” by Isaac Bashevis Singer. It’s interesting to dissect these pieces of literature to see how they reflect the time period they were written in, by whom they were written, and if the stories they read have any abnormalities outside what is expected.…

    • 1028 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Flannery O'Connor Essay

    • 501 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Flannery O’Connor cleverly creates for us timeless short stories about simple characters that appear easy to understand. Beneath the words she manages to communicate an intricate message to us regarding faith, love and family. That we are bound together as families in love, even though we do not always like one another. In most families, we tolerate each other shortcomings, like the nagging and bossiness of the grandmother, and the rudeness of the children. We see in her characters, many of the good and bad behaviors that we all accept are the best and worst of each of us on an everyday basis. The impatience and cranky nature of the father in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” and the fascination of parker with tattoos, are symbolic of many of the eccentric and crazy behaviors and habits that family members often exhibit. With faith in those we love, and a belief in God, we accept and tolerate the dichotomy of good and evil operating in all humans everyday.…

    • 501 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This story centers around a girl who has a lot of liberty to do what she wants. However, her flaw is simply that she is too naive towards the world’s dangers and has a difficulty creating any sort of intimate relationship with anyone. Much like Laura, she has a cold relationship with her mother. Connie sees her mother as a person who is difficult to please and who is also constantly comparing her with her older sister June. “June did this, June did that,, she saved money and helped clean the house and cooked…” (Oates 492). This constant comparison with her sister drives Connie to the point of anger and disgust, where Connie cannot stand being with her mom for extended periods of time. This will go on to play a crucial role in the development of the story. Connie’s frustration with her mother is also made evident by the way Connie believes that her mother prefers June over her, stating that “if June’s name was mentioned her mother’s tone was approving, and if Connie’s name was mentioned it was disapproving” (Oates 495). Connie feels as if she is not appreciated within her household, a factor that leads her to make questionable decisions once Arnold Friend makes his appearance later on in the story. Along with her shaky relationship with her mother, Connie also has difficulty creating relationships with other people.…

    • 1760 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Effects of Loss

    • 1235 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Ian Christopherson, the son of Struan’s doctor, Dr. Christopherson, experiences the sudden leave of his mother, which not only affects him emotionally, but his lifestyle as well. Mrs. Christopherson had been Dr. Christopherson’s nurse as well as his wife, so when she left, Ian had no choice but to fill in her spot as his father’s assistant. Ian adapts to this new responsibility quickly, since “he still felt resentful whenever he thought about it, but he didn’t think about it much anymore” (97). This shows how his mother’s leave changes up his day-to-day lifestyle to the point where he doesn’t really mind it anymore. After his mother leaving and Ian seeing the kind of woman she had been all along, he makes it a personal code of behavior to never behave as she had done. For example, “in any tricky personal situation he had asked himself what his mother would have done, and then he had done the opposite. It seemed to him that she was the perfect anti-role model” (208). His mother’s past actions have an effect on Ian’s actions and how he should act in certain situations. This suffering also causes him to see women in a different light. For instance, in his eyes, Laura Dunn used to always be the image of the perfect mother, with no flaws whatsoever. However, after his mother’s leave, Ian’s image of Laura’s…

    • 1235 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In my situation, building ethos for preventing obesity between parents and high schoolers would be significantly different. In establishing ethos in front of parents, I might talk about the healthy foods I feed my children and the sports that they not only love doing, but also prevent them from becoming a part of America’s growing child obesity problem. Also, I would talk about how simple it is to feed my children all their fruits and vegetables and the little amount of time it takes to prep their lunches or dinners everyday. Parents are more likely to listen if they know I have experience raising children as well. On the other hand, building ethos for a group of high schoolers is different in that I would tell a story of my journey as a overweight highschooler and how I overcame my weight problems through doing sports that not only were interesting to me but also kept me active. Additionally, I would talk about easy ways to eat healthier foods that aided me in my transformation. High schoolers would rather listen to someone who’s been in their feet and therefore feel compelled to believe my message to them.…

    • 436 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    My Son The Man

    • 1076 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Overall, Sharon Olds’ poem “My Son the Man” depicts a mother-son relationship that neither deteriorates nor strengthens as he grows away from her. Olds used the allusion to Houdini is essential as in it sets up a correlation portraying the impressions of a mother who fears the maturing of her son to that of a magician who can free himself from any type of form of restraint. Her fear of letting him go overcomes the need to love her son more. She wishes to stop time and prevent him from maturing into a man. She feels confused and doleful that her son no longer needs a mother’s guidance in his…

    • 1076 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When considering the content of the three short stories "Tickets Please", "Hands", and "My Oedipus Complex", it is evident that the main conflict falls into the sexual category. Sexual conflict plays a major role in analyzing the situations in the three stories as well as in determining the meaning of the language. Although the examples of sexual conflict may not be directly implied in some of the stories, indirect allusions to such conflicts throughout the stories make it easier for the reader to recognize them.…

    • 862 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays