Flannery O'Connor

[diane808080]

Can anyone explain to me Flannery O'Connor's concept on the use of violence in short stories. I have to write a 5 page Argumentative Essay explaining why/how I believe her theory is valid. Basically, can anyone give me some insight on what exactly these 2 quotes by her mean?

"I have found that violence is strangely capable of returning my characters to reality."

or

"It is the extreme situation that best reveals what we are essentially."

[YesNo]

Have you read her short story, "A Good Man Is Hard To Find"? It is one of the most haunting stories I have ever read and likely because of the violence and the extreme situation at the end. Perhaps it brings the readers back to reality more than the characters.

However, I do enjoy comedies better.

[Sancho]

Well anybody can be suave and debonair in the relative safety of a hoity-toity cocktail party. But facing certain death on a lonely highway at the hands of a psychopathic killer might just tear away at the facade of manners, like a scab from the knee of an eight-year-old bicycle rider.

Or having your prosthetic leg stolen by a smooth-talking bible salesman. Or...Ah well, ya just gotta read the stories. You'll figure it out.