O'Conner's Faith

Reading the critical texts it is apparent that being a Catholic was an extremely critical part of Flannery O'Conner's writing style. She tried to communicate to her audience some ideals that she felt that the audience would have trouble comprehending due to the lower number of Catholics. She felt that Catholics lacked their own region or part of the country so most of her audience would not be Catholic. Being Catholic she tried to show some redemptive qualities in her work. For example the grandmother in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” in the end has a revelation and in a way repents for what she has done. Though throughout the story the grandmother seems like the last person to repent she has a moment of grace on realizes what has she has done. According to the analysis “Parker’s Back” the story is about direction. Parker has an unease that he tries to fill by getting tattoos. This does momentarily ease him but only for a short period. This story once again shows redemption showing O’Conner’s Catholic influence. Once again her faith influences what she writes about. Redemption and grace are common themes in the short stories and are aspects of her faith.