Analysis Of O Connor And Nathaniel Hawthorne - 1554 Words

Flannery O’Connor and Nathaniel Hawthorne are two American Literature short story writers. O’Connor’s short stories focused on the southern gothic genre which consisted of painful experiences with a spiritual angle. Nathaniel Hawthorne focused his work on the dark romanticism genre. Both of their works, explored conflicts between good versus evil and contain characters who discovered epiphanies which are sudden realizations or new perspectives. But the way that these two writers portray the epiphanies of their characters are very different but in some ways are similar. Flannery O’Connor brings her characters to a point where it is no longer possible for them to continue in their same manner therefore they undergo an epiphanal experience. Nathanial Hawthorne uses epiphanies in his characters to show a moment of truth where the main character has the opportunity to change his/her way of thinking or behavior. O’Connor’s use of epiphanies in her characters gives a more intense feel to the audience such as in the story â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† than Hawthorne’s approach to epiphanies in â€Å"The Birthmark†. Flannery O’Connor handles this motif by bringing her characters to a point where it is no longer possible for them to continue unless they undergo an epiphany, but the epiphanal moment is accompanied by destruction and violence. The epiphany in the short stories is produced by the death of characters or by the destruction of a beloved possession. The way that O’Connor portraysShow MoreRelatedFlannery O Connor s Good Country People935 Words   |  4 PagesFlannery O Connor s Good Country People and Nathaniel Hawthorne s Young Goodman Brown explore the nature and range of religious hypocrisy congruently. Comparably O Connor s theme focuses on the eclipsed personalities one can have, where Hawthorne s short story pushes the meaning that everyone is secretly corrupt in their own w ay. While each tale marches to its own tune, the overlap is prominent; both authors strive to make a clear stance that the moral standing of an individual is only