Characteristics Of Grotesque

Characteristics Of Grotesque
When you live in a small town everyone knows your business and everything about you, especially
when there is nothing to do in the little town. They have one place where everyone meets on a daily
basis. Lymon, Miss Amelia, and Marvin Macy are all grotesque in their own way. The word
grotesque has many different meanings and it fits all three of the main characters in The BALLAD
of the SAD CAFÉ. Grotesque can mean very strange looking, malformed, and odd. There is Cousin
Lymon who betrays his own blood, Miss Amelia who tries to get over on people, and Marvin Macey
who commits crimes. Cousin Lymon is the least grotesque then it's Miss Amelia and then Marvin
Macey who is the most grotesque. First Cousin Lymon is the least grotesque just because he did
least grotesque things then, Marvin Macy and Miss Amelia. Cousin Lymon does have some
grotesque features such as he was scarcely more than four feet tall and he wore a ragged, dusty coat
that reached only to his knees, his skin was yellowed from the dust, and he had lavender shadows
beneath his eyes (6 McCullers). Not only did his appearance look gross he had a hunchback, tiny
little legs, a warped chest, a very large head, and a sharp little mouth. He then carried an old suitcase
with him that was lopsided and tied with a rope. He came to Miss Amelia because he claimed that
they were related and when he felt he was being rejected, he sat on the steps and cried. When Cousin
Lymon was explaining how he and Miss Amelia were
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Parker's Back by Flannery O'Connor
To the uninitiated, the significance of Flannery O 'Connor 's Parker 's Back can seem at once cold
and dispassionate, as well as almost absurdly stark and violent. Her short stories routinely end in
horrendous, freak fatalities or, at the very least, a character 's emotional devastation. Flannery O
'Connor is a Christian writer, and her work is message–oriented, yet she is far too brilliant a stylist to
tip her hand; like all good writers, crass didacticism is abhorrent to her. Unlike some more cryptic
writers, O 'Connor was happy to discuss the conceptual and philosophical underpinnings of her
stories, and this candor is a godsend for the researcher that seeks to know what makes the writer
tick.
Flannery O 'Connor put much conscious ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
For me, the most chilling aspect of the story is the description of a prophetic water stain above
Asbury 's bed:
Thematic Elements
This concept of "displacement" runs throughout O 'Connor 's work, and it is essentially a
displacement from the world of the one true God, a theological displacement, although within the
context of the story it is more social, based on the nature of the freak 's position in the society. Very
often, the grotesque elements of O 'Connor 's stories are balanced out by anagogical ones. Again, the
latter are not specifically symbols, for symbols work contextually to represent interactive story
elements, whereas O 'Connor 's anagogical elements are just there, they wander in and out of the
action; they may have symbolic significance, but it never comes directly into play as a plot element.
Facing death is another thematic element that recurs often in O 'Connor, for obvious reasons, both
personal and religious. 23 O 'Connor admits as much herself, in an essay in which she discusses "A
Good Man is Hard to Find": "The heroine of the story, the Grandmother, is in the most significant
position life offers the Christian.
She is facing death." 24 This last quote speaks volumes; it is probably the single most significant
and telling remark the student of Flannery O 'Connor can have in his attempt to understand her
work. Clearly facing death as a Christian was the motivational engine that

Fight Club Satire Analysis
Mcdonalds, the latest style, or some random toiletries, it doesn't matter what it is we've all bought
some pointless nonsense at some point. I's that our American dream? To mindlessly spend money on
junk we don't need to satisfy urges we don't want? That is our unknown narrator's plight in the
grotesque satire that is the masterpiece of Fight Club. First, what is Satire? It's much more than a
scene from Snl, it is a story driven joke meant to push in an idea in a comical way. But fight club is
just a misogynistic tale about a whole bunch of man–children terrorists beating eachother up just
because they lost themselves somewhere along the path. No, Fight Club is so much more than that.
Fight Club is a satire about The pointless spending surrounding American economy, about social
expectations and the way everyone else thinks you should be, It's also a satire on healthy social
relationships and a distorted view of brotherhood. American consumerism is a trade of nonsense, it's
a fake piece of paper that controls the world and you trade it for something that you truly don't need.
When we first meet the Narrator, he is a robot just buying things to fill his hole that is his emotions.
"We've all been raised on television that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock
stars,but we don't and we're slowly figuring that out and we are very, very mad about it." This is
Tyler Durden, a confidant that helps the Narrator out of his shell, and gives him "freedom". Tyler

Comparing the Search in Plato's Allegory of the Cave and...
The Search for Truth in Plato's Allegory of the Cave and Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio
The novel Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson has many themes that present themselves
throughout the book. One such recurring theme is a search for truth. The characters in the book do
not fully realize that they are searching for truth, but they do feel a vague, "indescribable thing" that
pushes and prods their minds to actualize a higher plane of thought. This search for a higher plane
by the characters of Winesburg nearly parallels another literary work of ancient Greek origin–
Plato's "Allegory of the Cave," which is a portion of his famous writing "The Republic." I contend
that the town of Winesburg is the equivalent of the Cave in Plato's ... Show more content on
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Life for the prisoners goes on this way without occurrence until one of them is freed, led up outside
the cave, and shown the real world. The freed person will realize that the truth of the shadowed
reality is actually a falsehood. After this realization the person who visited the upper world is
returned to imprisonment in the cave. Her eyes have to adjust to the darkness of the cave once again.
However, this adjustment naturally takes a long time. As a result, the once free person can no longer
see the shadows as well as she did before her release into the upper world. To the people who have
remained in the cave, it seems as though going into the upper world has destroyed her faculty for
seeing "reality." Some of the captives then say that trying to reach the outer world is harmful, and
that anyone caught trying to loose themselves or another person for the purpose of reaching the
outside will be punished. Plato says that the cave symbolizes the world of sight and the outside
represents the world of knowledge. Plato also instructs people to "interpret the journey upwards to
be the ascent of the soul into the intellectual world." Plato's belief is that in the "world of knowledge
the idea of good appears," and that humans should strive to reach this goodness through
philosophical thought.
The connection between Winesburg, Ohio and the "Allegory of the Cave" presents itself in the very
first passage, "The Book of the Grotesque." In this first

Harpham: The Grotesque
According to Harpham, the term grotesque had come about unexpectedly close to the end of the
fifteenth century, being "part" of the European consciousness, in a sequence of excavations through
caves near Rome. During these excavations , it extracted murals, which were human figures and
animal figures which were estimated to date from the Roman Depravity, which were interweaved
with vegetation in an abnormal way which defy not only the regulations of gravity and statics but
normal thought and common sense [ . The Grotesque: First Principles Author(s): Geoffrey
HarphamSource: The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Vol. 34, No. 4 (Summer, 1976), pp.
461]. Harpham Continues to say that the grotesque is the trickiest of visual groupings.

Gargoyle Essay
Gargoyle
A Gargoyle is a grotesquely carved human or animal figure found on an architectural structure,
originally designed (believe it or not) to serve as a spout to throw rainwater clear of a building. They
later became strictly ornamental and assumed many forms.
The Natural and Unnatural History of Gargoyles
The gargoyle often makes his perch
On a cathedral or a church
Where, mid eclesiastic style
He smiles an early Gothic smile Oliver Herford
Welcome. Your are about to meet a peculiar race of creatures which inhabited the great cathedrals of
the Middle Ages, proliferating between the 11th and 13th centuries. Some of their decendants have
ventured away from churches, migrating to other important buildings, but ... Show more content on
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You will see a lot of heads that have become detached from their bodies. This harks back to the 5th
Century Celts who were, in fact, head–hunters. They worshipped the heads that they had severed,
believing them to hold a powerful force. If you make eye contact with one, you may find out that
this is true.
Figures of ambiguous gender and species are frequently encountered in the world of gargoyles.
Ancient people were no different from people today in finding amalgrams of male/female or
human/animal bodies somewhat frightening. Pagan religion existed to confront and surmount chaos
and danger. Chaos is represented by lifeforms which do not fit into known categories.
You will find that an inordinate number of gargoyles have their mouths wide open and their tongues
protruding. Why?
The mouth pulled open is a frequent symbol of devouring giants. In order to convey size in a small
sculpture, much smaller figures are placed next to the "giant". The act of pulling the mouth open is a
threatening gesture which serves to remind us that we are vulnerable to forces larger than ourselves.
The Celts often depicted a human head entwined with foliage. Branches coming from the mouth or
crowning the head were a sign of divinity. Often, the branches are of the oak tree which was sacred

to the Druids. Images like this have come to be called "Jack O'Green" or "The Green Man"
Fertility was the

How and Why Is the Grotesque Used in Tennessee Williams’ a...
How and why is the Grotesque Used in Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire?
Throughout this semester, we were introduced to varying degrees of literary styles and themes.
From the epiphanies discovered through American Realism, to the skepticism explored through
Literary Modernism, to the conflicts of social conformity and individualism approached by a Post–
Modernistic America and its writers. We have had the great opportunity of being exposed to
individuals who questioned and pushed the boundaries of creativity and expression. Tennessee
Williams was an author and playwright who balanced the enigmatic, macabre, and often cruel
disintegration of his characters with a poetic grace. He became the keystone of a style that is known
... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Blanche DuBois provided the extreme case of what it is like to lose yourself.
Blanche was "Deceptive, dishonest, fraudulent, permanently flawed, unable to face reality, Blanche
is for all that thoroughly capable of commanding audience compassion, for her struggle and the
crushing defeat she endures have the magnitude of tragedy. The inevitability of her doom, her
refusal to back down in the face of it, and the essential humanity of the forces that drive her to it are
the very heart of tragedy, No matter what evil she may have done, nor what villainies practiced, she
is a human being trapped by the fates, making a human fight to escape and to survive with some
shred of human dignity, in full recognition of her own fatal human weaknesses and increasing
absence of hope" (Crandell 93). The obscure relevance to her deceptions are only a portion of why
Blanche represents the grotesque. Her necessity to cling to the "old" southern ways (with a "death
grip") allows her to cling to her own sanity. She exudes narcissism to the fullest extent, but is unable
to see the damage that it is causing to herself and the people around her.
In the very first scene, Blanche describes the loss of Belle Reve. She goes on to embellish the loss as
a personal encounter with death, to which she is the only witness to and the only effected party: "I, I,
I, took the blows in my face and my body! All of those deaths! The long parade

Grotesque In Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg Ohio
Most people when asked to describe what the word grotesque means they might refer to the
dictionary's definition of the word, which according to The American Heritage Dictionary the
meaning of grotesque is "characterized by ludicrous, repulsive, or incongruous distortion, as of
appearance or manner." Not only can one be grotesque with one's appearance but also their behavior.
Sherwood Anderson in his book Winesburg Ohio mentions that "the grotesques were not all
horrible. Some were amusing, some almost beautiful". Anderson lets the reader know that a
grotesque is not so just because of their physical appearance but, "was the truths that made the
people grotesque." People in Andersons book "took one of these truths to himself, called it his truth,
and tried to live his life by it, he became a grotesque and the truth he embraced became a
falsehood." (Anderson 8). Elizabeth Willard by this definition is the "worst" grotesque in this book.
She has been transformed by her beliefs into a sad, ugly & dangerous grotesque. Her appearance,
beliefs, and actions are all contributing factors to her ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Eventually they had a son George and Elizabeth focused her "truth" upon her son. "In the boyish
figure she yearned to see something half forgotten that had once been a part of herself recreated".
She would even pray at time "even though I die, I will in some way keep defeat from you" At one
point Elizabeth is said to be praying "If I am dead and see him becoming a meaningless drab figure
like myself, I will come back". That is how strongly she wants George to experience all life has to
offer. The last thing she wants is for her precious George to become like her Husband Tom. The
"truth" has affected her so much that later on she is willing to kill in order to see her truth live on
with her son George. (Anderson

Good Country People by Flannery O'Connor
Flannery O'Connor was a southern belle born in Savannah, Georgia in 1925. She was a Catholic girl
living in the Bible belt of the country. She lived in "two different worlds" (Meyer, 421); the fictional
world that she created for her stories and her personal life. In her stories, she used exciting
characters so that she could live through them and live an "interesting" life. She uses her stories to
portray totally unanticipated, but totally plausible things. "O'Connor's stories present complex
experiences that cannot be tidily summarized; it takes the entire story to suggest the meanings"
(Meyer, 426). She uses her characters to show irony, private experiences, fears, and diverse parallels
into her story "Good Country People". One of the strongest parallels that I saw in the story was
between O'Connor and the character Joy. She was the main protagonist of the story, written as an
unpleasant and lonely woman who has moved home to wait for her imminent death. O'Connor's life
was much like Joy's life in many ways. Joy was a young girl in her thirties, who had to move home
because she had a "weak heart" which kept her from her the life that she desired. She was not able to
teach at a university using her degree in philosophy. She lived at her childhood home in the country
with her mother, reading books all day, every day. O'Connor, who also had to move home because
she was getting sick with lupus, could not follow her life dreams. Lupus can sometimes be confused
with a heart

Grotesque Characteristics In Frankenstein
The novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley depicts characteristics of gothic literature by showing
grotesque characters, bizarre situations, and violent situations. Frankenstein is about a man from
Geneva named Victor Frankenstein. He is a smart man, who at a young age, becomes very interested
in natural philosophy. His parents, Caroline Beaufort and Alphonse Frankenstein loved him more
than anything in the world; he was an only child for several years. However, one day Victor's
mother, Caroline, adopted Elizabeth Lavenza. Caroline fell in love with Elizabeth's looks when she
saw her on the streets of Paris; Victor and Elizabeth were set to be married when they were older.
Throughout his teenage years, Victor befriended Henry Clerval, an only child ... Show more content
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It depicts characteristics of Gothic literature by showing grotesque characters, bizarre situations, and
violent situations. The monster is an example of a grotesque character, his appearance is hideous,
and his behavior is very inhumane. He murders humans without seeing that it is wrong, and his
appearance scares everyone he encounters. Being 8 feet tall, and made out of dead flesh, the monster
is grotesque in more ways than one. Frankenstein has a plethora of bizarre situations, such situations
make the novel scary, romantic, and sometimes filled with intense emotions. Situations like
Elizabeth thinking that Victor does not want to marry her, the De Lacey being exiled from France,
and Victor's family dying off so fast are examples of bizarre situations. Violent situations also play a
key role in Frankenstein. From the monster murdering William, Clerval, and Elizabeth to the
monster being shot and beaten, it is apparent that violence is a major factor in the

Flannery O'Connor's A Good Man Is Hard to Find Essay
The Dysfunctional: Psychoanalysis of Flannery O'Connor's
"A Good Man is Hard to Find" Murder of women, children, and even a baby is a harsh image used
by Flannery O'Connor in "A Good Man is Hard to Find." The imagery is an effective literary device
used to convey ironic tragedy, the struggle of female characters, and the family unit. The story
follows a family on a trip to Florida when their journey, interrupted by an ill–fated detour resulting
in a car wreck, ends in murder after they cross paths with an escaped convict. Family dysfunction,
female struggles, and tragedy are common themes in the stories written by Flannery O'Connor, and
her characters often referred to as grotesque. In her story "A Good Man is Hard to Find," she ...
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The stories usually follow a female antagonist, though the character is "grotesque," and meets
predictable tragic end, who, as a flawed hero, finds redemption. The flaws realistically depict her
characters as human, prone to human emotional issues, products of their environments, and
influenced by the relationships with other flawed humans. Although O'Connor has said that her
writings try to reveal a failure of society to follow Christianity, as stated by Mark T. Mitchell, she
"... writes as both a Catholic and a Southerner"... "although the Catholicism is generally far more
subtle than her Southernness." (Mitchell). The stories also effectively demonstrate the dysfunction
of families and an individual's tendency to be self–centered. In the South Atlantic Review, Julie
Buckner Armstrong explains that during, "... O'Connor's graduate training at the University of Iowa,
[ ] she learned that being a good writer meant eliminating a (feminine) gendered voice from her
fiction." (Armstrong 130). Her debilitating disease, isolation, southern upbringing, religious beliefs,
and a desire to have the male dominated literary community seriously consider her works as a
female writer influenced her writing style.
In "A Good Man is Hard to Find," the antagonist remains nameless, simply referred to as the
grandmother. The grandmother is prim and proper, and portrayed as a typical matriarch. However,
she freely criticizes her son,

Grotesque Research Paper
Nowadays people define grotesque as something very strange or ugly in a way that is not normal or
natural. In this way, it can be referred to the human body that can be distorted or exaggerated
It means that its aim in literature is the combination of the familiar and the unfamiliar or the familiar
distorted
So, it is not ugly and disgusting anymore, but it is a way and a tool that the writer uses it as
ornament to represent a literary work better.
But the definition of grotesque has changed from one century to another one during the history. It
shows that the grotesque is historically and culturally specific in each age. For example, by the
seventeenth century, the word 'grotesque' was most often used to refer to a particular type of
caricature and also to the capriccio both of which foregrounded the body, or in Romanticism, the
grotesque began to be linked to the emotions of horror and repulsion, following from the earlier
nightmarish visions of painters. ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Moreover, Gothic and uncanny sometimes help the elements of grotesque, and the overlapping of
them can be

What Does Ruskin Associate The Grotesque With Failure?
To what extent does Ruskin associate the grotesque with failure?
The concept of failure is often repeated in Ruskin's writings. It forms the basis for all other themes
and every topic seems to always be traceable back to the idea of failure. Ruskin however, does not
consider it to be negative. Synonymous to imperfection, it is an inevitable part of the creation of art.
He believes that art is not meant to be perfect and neither are humans. This belief is also
incorporated in his theory of the grotesque, one closely associated with the other. In The Stones of
Venice he writes: "no good work whatever can be perfect, and the demand for perfection is always a
sign of a misunderstanding of the ends of art." . The repeated mistakes and failures of artists are
what encourages them in their work and the imperfection of their art is what makes it better. He
says: "Imperfection is in some sort essential to all that we know in life... It is the sign of life in a
mortal body, that is to say, of a state of progress and change. Nothing that lives is, or can be, rigidly
perfect." The idea of "real life" and resemblance of nature is also something that Ruskin talks about
in relation to the grotesque. In this essay I will further discuss this and other topics, and point out
how the ideas of failure and imperfection relate to Ruskin's theory of the grotesque and its
subcategories.
The grotesqueness of art is the main topic of chapter three of The Stones of Venice called
„Grotesque

The Characteristics Of The Grotesque In Literature
Sasha Chapa
Dr. Tom Murphy
Engl 2316.003
November 15, 2017
The grotesque in literature focuses on the human body and all the ways it can exaggerated or
distorted. For example, in Baudelaire's "A Carrion" he talks about the dead prostitute's vulva being
eaten away by maggots. By doing this he is giving a picture of a dead person, but exaggerates it
through the talk of the maggots eating away at a normally private part of the human body. In
William Burroughs excerpt he talks about the abundance of drug use, and ease of obtaining it.
Burroughs does this in a grotesque way. It is not that society has too much time on their hands, but
that they have too much drugs instead. Burroughs also tells how through the use of drugs it affects
society, and causes a decline of the human being as a major factor. In William Burroughs excerpt
from "Naked Lunch" he talks about the use of drugs and side effects in detail, and how people with
money sit back to watch. "We rigged his room with one–way whore house mirror and charged a
swaski to watch it" (Naked Lunch 127). In this line he is talking about a "swaski" which is a person
of money. This person payed money to watch a person get a "hot shot". This shows how someone
has money to waist, and they spend it on watching a drug user get their fix. Burroughs then talks
about what they see, and how it they react to it. "He never got the needle out of his arm. They don't
if the shot is right. That's the way they find them, dropper full of clotted

The Gogol Grotesque Characters
Grotesque Characters When talking about the grotesque uncertainty and confusion is often common
because when someone or something is grotesque it is out of the norm we don't usually see or hear
about it. In Gogol's "The Nose" the grotesque is present throughout the whole story and especially
with the two main characters Ivan Yakovlevich and Collegiate Assessor Kovalyov. A reader of this
story will notice the similarities and the differences that these two characters share. This response to
"The Nose" will compare and contrast the two main characters and show how they are grotesque.
The title of this story alone should tell the reader that this is most likely about a nose or something
pertaining to that particular body part which is different. The title alone can make the reader ask
questions before they even start to read the story. As one may read and find out that the story is
about a nose and how Collegiate Assessor Kovalyov (also referred to as major) loses his nose. As
Ivan Yakovlevich is sitting down to eat a roll he feels something in the roll. "He pokes two fingers in
and pulled out – a nose!" (Gogol 113). Ivan freaks out as any normal person would do and decides
to get rid of the evidence and drops it off a bridge. The major on the other hand wakes up one
morning to find he has lost his nose and has no idea where it is. He later finds his nose acting as a
person who has a rank that is three higher than his. The major even tries to talk his own nose and
holds a

Carnivalesque Grotesque Analysis
1st Draft Mark Lennon FACS – Ross Birrell
Working Title: Present Systems and Prohibitions in relation to Carnivalesque Grotesque. Synopsis:
This essay will investigate wither the principles of Carnival Grotesque during the time of Francois
Rabelais' writing still provide a function to berate and liberate us from current societal prohibitions.
It draws upon evaluating the writings of Georges Bataille's Base Materialism and Jean Baudrillard's
critique of consumerist capitalism – specifically that of advertising – to be utilised as a vessel in
understanding wither notions of the grotesque can still berate and liberate us from current social
phenomenas in a theoretical sense. In aid to this, It will draw upon contemporary sources that may
be similar in features and principles to the Carnivalesque Grotesque such as South Park and William
Wegman and evaluate wither they have successfully carried the principles and functions of it.
Chapter 1 presents an overview of the fundamental notions, characteristics and functions that
Mikthail Bakhtin derives to be the Carnivalesque Grotesque from Francois Rabelais's 'Gargantua
and Pantagruel'. Chapter 2 examines the link between the Carnivalesque Grotesque – specifically
Grotesque Realism – and Georges Bataille's 'Base Materialism. Chapter 3 will introduce Jean
Baudrillard's 'The system of Objects' and the functions of advertising being a contemporary
prohibition to that of Medieval hierarchy. Chapter 4 will evaluate contemporary sources

The Grotesque Pursue Of Goodness
Elena Quesada Pereda
Professor Marcos Norris
ENGL 290
5 May 2016
The Grotesque Pursue of Goodness in A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor
"The great advantage of being a Southern writer is that we don't have to go anywhere to look for
manners; bad or good, we've got them in abundance. We in the South live in a society that is rich in
contradiction, rich in irony, rich in contrast, and particularly rich in its speech"
(Flannery O'Connor). Mary Flannery O'Connor was born in 1925 in a Catholic family in the south
of the United States, particularly in Savannah (Georgia). Her Catholic inheritance influenced her
writing, in such a way that the characters of her stories, which are physically and morally perverted,
walk towards a theological revelation that release them from that moral and physical decadence –
specially those of the story that is analyzed in this paper, "A Good Man is Hard to Find," where the
main characters only discover their goodness when they face death–. But far from going into
existentialist digressions, her short stories are depictions of the daily life, where the reader can learn
something to apply in his life. Sometimes the stories are inspired in the coarse reading of a
newspaper, sometimes they seem to be a hopscotch drawn by a boy, who in his simplicity, hides the
concerns of a society that is decadent and lacking in values, according to O'Connor, as stated in the
initial quote. Flannery O'Connor was stuck to the past, shy and for most part

Carnival Of The Grotesque Essay
First off, I would like to begin by saying I have no tattoos or piercings. I had my ears pierced for
about six months one time. The back piece went through my ear lobe one night after I fell asleep and
after I was finally able to rip it out, I never put them back in. I have no problem with tattoos or
piercings, but the fact that I have neither, I often feel as though I am the different one. When I tell
people I have no tattoos or piercing, the responses are usually, "Really"? or "Wow"? Moving on.
When I hear the word "stigma", I usually correlate it with something negative. And in this case, the
word "stigma' being used along with the phrase "Carnival of the Grotesque," I associated both them
being used in a negative connotation. To me, anything with the word "grotesque" is not necessarily
going to be a positive thing; however in the sense that it is being used in this context, can it be a
good thing?
As I read through Explaining Body Deviance with Stigma and Carnival of the Grotesque, the word
that kept popping in my mind was judgment. Judgement coming from myself, but also from society.
For example, when Glen was interviewed by Dave regarding his outings in public, he spoke about
some of the negative things he has experienced. By all accounts it's sounds as though Glen's whole
body is completely covered in tattoos. He mentioned the looks people have given him, how people
have avoided walking near him, and in a more extreme example, how some people actually
tightened up ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
What may be considered body deviance to some may be considered art or beauty to others. Body
deviance can be either an "enlightening" experience or a failure. By having tattoos or participating
in the "Carnival of the Grotesque" an individual may finally feel a part of something, or may have to
deal with the consequences of being judged based on the decisions they have made by participating
in body

Grotesque Character In 'The Life You Save May Be Your Own'
Brittany Luckey
Mr. Clements
American Literature
21 March 2013
Grotesque Characters What is a grotesque character? In literature, a character or location that is
irregular, extravagant or fantastic in form. When used as a device, the purpose is often in the style of
expressionism, making the grotesque a parody of human qualities or a distorted reflection of a
familiar place. In many ways grotesque characters have some kind of problem in society, and
example would be a veteran who lost a limb in war and trying to fit back into society, or anything
that we see as not normal in our society. Characters in this particular subject can be deformed,
obsessed, or in our terms just not normal or right. Another definition of a grotesque ... Show more
content on Helpwriting.net ...
Shiftlet who cheats and lies. Mr. Shiftlet is obsesses with morality and that makes both these
characters grotesque. ("The Life You Save May Be Your Own"). Why are grotesque characters so
popular in the Modernist movement and the Southern Gothic movement? In Southern Gothic
literature grotesque characters are used to portray deeply flawed characters. Grotesque characters
allow a talented writer to exaggerate their writing making it longer and believing it made their
writing better. Grotesque characters can also help with unpleasant aspects within society without
making it to church–like. McCullers used grotesque characters to bring about the truths of the
human society. In the Modernist movement grotesque characters were used to describe the
aberration from ideal form, it helped to create misshapen, ugly, or formless characters. In
Modernism they are characterized by the qualities they lack such as fixity, stability, order, and
sometimes even sanity. Writers in this period used grotesque characters to shape the history,
practice, and theories in the nineteenth and twentieth century's. What type of effect does a grotesque
character have on a story? In Angela Carter's story (John Bowen par. 1–5) they dominate, they are
not beautiful, they tend to be dirtier than they clean. The main characters are Honeybuzzard, Morris,
Ghislaine, and Emily. Honeybuzzard is the prettiest, but she is selfish, cruel and a killer. They are
used in a lot of gothic

How Is Gilman's Interminable Grotesque
Beverly Hume's essay "Gilman's 'Interminable Grotesque': The Narrator of 'The Yellow Wallpaper'",
is a thorough analysis of the short story "The Yellow Wallpaper". It proposes new ideas and thoughts
on plot points and the overall meaning/purpose of the work. Beverly came to the conclusion that
"The Yellow Wallpaper" is a "disturbing, startling, and darkly ironic tale about womanhood in the
nineteenth–century." She also comments of the grotesque of the pice and how the author tried to
bring it to life, but failed and shows she doesn't understand the complexity of it. Hume analysis of
"The Yellow Wallpaper" is stupendous, however, the critique she comes forth with on the grotesque
in the piece is overdone and is not the main purpose of the piece. ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
Hume's thesis on the short story revolve around the narrator misreading the wallpaper and becomes
this grotesque figure that transforms the tale into a "disturbing, startling and darkly ironic tale". I
disagree that the narrator misreads the wallpaper for being as grotesque because grotesque means
repulsive or ugly, and the narrator calls out the wallpaper as being repulsive when she first saw it.
Another, point Hume makes about the author is that she suggests why women have been defeated by
circumstances or that they move toward an increasingly distorted understanding of themselves.
However, I don't agree with the fact that the narrator gets defeated in the story, instead, she freed
herself from the confinements of the bed, John, and her disease. That is why I don't think that the
narrator in "The Yellow Wallpaper" tells of a story of defeat, instead, it is her being locked away
because she is different until she is able to break free again. Thus, in conclusion, Beverly Hume's
essay "Gilman's 'Interminable Grotesque': The Narrator of 'The Yellow Wallpaper'", is a thorough
analysis of the short story "The Yellow Wallpaper". This essay demonstrates a high level of diction
and is not for the average

Grotesque In The Yellow Wallpaper
A prominent and rising theme in literature is grotesque literature. The type of literature that is just
weird or "off", although it can be oddly fascinating to read. Grotesque writing has been around for at
least a century, so there are many examples of this theme in literature. However, I will just be
examining a few the first one being The Hunger Artist by Franz Kafka.
The Hunger Artist tells a story of a man that fast for days on end, and people come to watch him
because of it. The artist would fast for forty days, and still want to fast longer. What makes this story
grotesque is this artist thinking towards his health and fasting. It doesn't seem that this artist
particularly cares about his health, and doesn't seem to have a need for food. One of humans
physical needs for survival is food, yet This man indicates no need for food. He repeatedly wonders
about why he doesn't fast longer. His thinking in this manner is distorted from a "normal" view.
What also makes this story grotesque is how the crowd reacts to his fasting. People are coming daily
to see this fasting man, they watch him at night to ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Written in 1890, this story discusses the life of women suffering from depression. What I find
grotesque in "The Yellow Wallpaper" is the character's way of thinking. Her thinking doesn't seem to
be completely sane, you can see this as she describes the wallpaper. The character uses descriptive
words that make the wallpaper yield more of a human–like, distorted nature. Later in the story she
seems to lose more of her sanity, where her thinking becomes more grotesque, or distorted. "All
those strangled heads and bulbous eyes and waddling fungus growths just shriek with derision!", is
used to describe this cursed yellow wallpaper. Charlotte Perkins Gilman strategically used this story
to get across the theme of grotesque, and using grotesque to spark the readers

The Power Of The Grotesque
The Power of the Grotesque in Literature It is often said that beauty is within the eye of its beholder.
A statement this broad, begs the question, "what is the true definition of beauty?" Writers such as
Sherwood Anderson and Thomas Mann depict the beauty of life through the usage of the grotesque.
The grotesque is used to reveal the absolute truth and reality of humanity. However, no matter how
terrifying these truths may be, it is evident that the messages depicted and the passion evoked
through them are truly beautiful. Winesburg, Ohio is a collection of short stories by Sherwood
Anderson. The episodic stories have a wide range of character types and messages and yet, they all
share the common theme of the grotesque. Similarly, Death in Venice the novella by Thomas Mann
follows a burdened artist, Gustave Aschenbach who struggles with repressed desires that are slowly
liberated throughout the story. Both Anderson and Mann use the grotesque to explain the true nature
of society, their characters, and to evoke emotion from their readers especially through the theme of
obsession.
In order to truly understand the grotesque and its usage, readers must first know its complex history,
meaning, and usage. Due to its wide range of usage, the definition of grotesque changed numerous
times throughout history. In literary uses, it can be defined as an "expression of the estranged or
alienated world...an attempt to control and exorcise the demonic elements in the world" (Thomson).

Examples Of Southern Grotesque In A Good Man Is Hard To Find
In A Good Man is Hard to Find, a stubborn and self–centered grandmother leads the very common
family trip to an unforeseen tragedy, which can ascribe to the power of Gothic literature. Southern
Grotesque, a subgenera of Southern Gothic, "cuts through the veil of civility, though decorum and
oppressive normative fabrications to expose a harsh, confusing reality of contradiction, violence,
and aberrations"(Bjerre). With these aspects, the genre of Southern Grotesque shows the social
issues and human natures in story through ordinary people's life. In the story A Good Man is Hard to
Find, Flannery O'Connor discusses the discrepancy between good and evil, violence, and salvation
with the two main grotesque characters–the grandmother and the Misfit–and through the perspective
of ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
During Post–WWII time period, people in south lose their faith and spiritual support from the view
of religion; people become avaricious and pursue material comforts in order to replace the emptiness
in their mind. The great change in people's life leads them to loneliness and helplessness which
forces the South to be alienated from the entire country. All the anguish from people is represented
through the two grotesque characters in O'Connor's story. The contradiction between good and evil
in this story indicates the dark side of human; with the involvement of religion, people's attitude
toward the definition of moral code becomes uncertain and ambiguous. In A Good Man is Hard to
Find, the grandmother has her own superficial opinion of being good that, "[she] had on a navy blue
straw sailor hat with a bunch of white violates in the brim and a navy blue dress with a small white
dot in the print...In case of an accident, anyone seeing her tea on the highway would know her was a
lady"(O'Connor 3). Graceful, neat, and clean clothes–to the grandmother, a nice looking appearance
is a part of

Literary Devices In A Good Man Is Hard To Find
Parker
Gavin L. Parker
Hensley
English 11/ Fourth Period
27 February 2018
Part 14: Rough Draft #2 In Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" she states, "She
would of been a good woman," The Misfit said, "if it had been somebody there to shoot her every
minute of her life" (O'Connor 28). This moment takes place at the end of the story when the
grandmother ceases to exist. Her death at the end of the story after she realises the title of killer
belongs to her child is her moment of grace. Although a selfish and cruel person, she still acquired
her moment of grace. Flannery O'Connor uses themes such as violence and cruelty combined with
various literary devices and her more bare bones style of writing in "A Good Man Is Hard to Find,"
Although her work contains fewer eloquent words than other literature, it does not, however,
discredit her work as a whole. It still delivers the messages and beliefs she wants to convey to her
readers. She believes God's grace holds availability to all and she does not need to use superfluous
words to get the point across. A simple plain statement suffices. Some say this type of writing offers
a much better alternative to using words that some readers show trouble in comprehending which
results in a less engaging story. If reader cannot accurately interpret a story due to their level of
vocabulary, a lack of discussion, a lack of insight, a lack of conveyed themes, beliefs, or messages,
and thus a lack of a point. The story would be that of a locked door, many beneficial items possibly
lie behind this door but they are useless if access is denied, much like the stories messages, no
matter how beneficial, are useless if comprehension shows trouble. In "'English Language' in
Flannery O'Connor's 'A Good Man Is Hard Find'" Michael Clark states, "A Good Man Is Hard to
Find" is one of Flannery O'Connor's most discussed and most problematic short stories" (Clark 109).
The story still possesses this characteristic because the vocabulary in the story holds less
significance than one may assume. The themes and literary devices hold the majority of significance
over vocabulary, driving the overall theme or message in the story much more effectively. In
addition of the aforementioned, O'Connor prefers to write her stories in accordance to the setting,
meaning, anything that occurs in a certain setting occurs in her story. In Short Stories for Students,
Elisabeth Piedmont–Marton states, "O'Connor argued that the best literature is regional literature
because good writing is always rooted in sense of place, in 'a shared past, a sense of alikeness, and
the

A Good Man is Hard to Find Essay examples
Flannery O'Connor is an influential voice in American literature. It is the headlight of American
literature, also the master of the short stories. Writer of the southern United States, we call her style
the "Southern Gothic" intimately tied to its region and its grotesque characters. For me O'Connor's
writings also reflect her Catholic faith, in considering her moral values. Deeply influenced by good
and evil, the theme of redemption through grace and suffering, the work of Flannery O'Connor takes
us to the heart of darkness of humanity. In Flannery O'Connor we find another key figure: the one of
the prophet, the marginal, the one that is different from "brave people" and as such is the theme of
"grotesque". The "grotesque" in Flannery ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
"As the family assesses its injuries, a man who is obviously the Misfit drives up with his armed
henchmen. The grandmother immediately feels that she recognizes him as someone she has known
all of her life, and she tells him that she knows who he is" (Garbett). After their car having struck the
railroad's the family waits for help. A car pulls up and a pair of men emerges, led by a shirtless, a
bespectacled man with a gun. The man gives orders to his cohorts to inspect the family car and
retains Bailey in polite conversation until the grandmother recognizes it as the Misfit. The
grandmother made worse by the fact that if she would keep her mouth shut, none of them have been
killed.
The grandmother's selfishness is showed by her desire to go to Tennessee instead of Florida. Despite
the fact that the rest of the family does not want to and even more, so by her desperate attempts to
protect herself while her family was being killed one by one, she could not keep her mouth closed,
none of them would have been killed. "In her efforts to strike a soft place in the heart of the Misfit,
the Grandmother leads their conversation into religious channels". That is, she admonishes him to
"pray," perhaps hoping to distract him from the frightening recital of his violent life: "If you would
pray... Jesus would help you" (O'Connor 339). Mentioning the name of Jesus is a mistake, for it
ignites a

Grotesque Stereotypes
We later used these characteristics of high status in a perverse male character obsessed with being
with ever–younger women to the point we parody him eventually masturbating a baby. The
movements become ape–like, panting like a dog and soon he was on his knees barking and entirely
playing the dog. We were able to challenge the common fetish of older men and the desire to make
themselves look younger. The purpose of these scenes was to make the audience unable to ignore
the message we were projecting; an understanding that our position in society is only defined
relative to those we consider to be lesser or greater than our own. By forcing the audience to
consider their roles in these relationships it becomes an easy step for them to see their place in a
wider flawed system – as noted from the lecturer's course material, "absent target – eg 'the
establishment', personal target – eg 'the audience'" (Taaffe 2015–2016)
Whilst I had very little knowledge of Grotesque or Bouffon as theatrical art forms before starting the
module, I had quickly become ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
We were hardly the first to see potential in specifically female–centric angles to Grotesque, indeed
Mary Russo draws similarities between the very word "grotesque" and female anatomy (as well as
calling me out for citing the origin of "Grotesque" above);
The word itself, as almost every writer on the topic feels obliged to mention sooner or later, evokes
the cave – the grotto–esque. Low, hidden, earthly, dark, material, immanent, visceral. As bodily
metaphor, the grotesque cave tends to look like (and in the most gross metaphorical sense be
identified with) the cavernous anatomical female body. – (Russo,

Some Aspects Of The Grotesque In Southern Fiction
The author of two novels and multiple classic short stories, Flannery O'Connor is widely regarded as
one of the greatest fiction writers in American literature. However, as a Southern and devoutly
Christian author in the 1950s, O'Connor was often criticized for the religious content and
"grotesque" characters often incorporated into her works. They were considered too "brutal", too
"sarcastic." (The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O 'Connor). O'Connor begged to differ.
Through her essay, "Some Aspects of the Grotesque in Southern Fiction", she defends the
individuality and moral value of Southern fiction. She makes a clear distinction between the correct
and incorrect usages of the "grotesque". Many fiction authors, particularly those from the North,
write stories that deal with social and economic issues. O'Connor disagrees with this tradition.
Fiction, she argues, should not reflect the concerns of the public but rather the perspective of the
author. It should "distort" the reader in a way that does not "destroy... [but] reveals" and that requires
a lot of self–reflection on the author's part who must then transmit that vision to his or her readers no
matter how skeptical they may be ("Novelist and Believer"). And the reader must approach the story
from an open–minded position. They should not expect the story to be uplifting or entirely pleasant.
Only then would readers be able to understand that seemingly "grotesque" characters hold much
more moral value than at

Winesburg Character Analysis
Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson; is a collection of short stories reproducing the town of
many "grotesques". Anderson defines the term "grotesque" as being a person that "took one of the
truths to himself, call it his own truth, and tried to live his life by it" (Anderson, 3). In the book, each
story is about a grotesque character, including Wash Williams in the story "Respectability". Williams
is the worst grotesque in the book. Specifically, the worst grotesque is a person who has become
obsessed with an idea or feeling and cannot accept a different opinion. Wash Williams is the worst
grotesque, because from what happened to him, his feelings towards change. He became violent, he
forces his opinions on others, and it seems to be unable to change his beliefs.
In "Respectability", Wash Williams is an ugly, miserable man with no friends. Anderson describes
him as "a huge ugly kind of ugly monkey, a creature with ugly sagging hairless skin below his eyes,
and a bright purple underbody." (Anderson, 68).Williams was the best operator in Ohio, but after
what happened to him, he got demoted to his state. Williams hated the people of the small town,
especially women. His obsession with hating women; took over his passion for work. He viewed all
women as "Bitches" because of his failed marriage, his feeling for men were different; he pitied
them. "Does not every man let his life be managed for him by some bitch or another?" (Anderson,
68).He found his

Grotesque In Winesburg, Ohio
The word grotesque describes a person who develops bizarre traits as a result of emotional
problems. This similar characteristic among people of different stories yet familiar sufferings
develop an underlying trend in the community. The handling of their emotional trauma makes these
characters grotesque because they develop a new perspective of life and reflect the past, present, and
future. As reporter George Willard interacts with individuals in Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg,
Ohio, Willard is exposed to the grotesques and their stories that changed their outlook on life
forever. In the book, the stories concerning characters Jesse Bentley, Alice Hindman, and Enoch
Robinson exemplify the development of a grotesque individual as a result of traumatic incidents.
Jesse Bentley is a changed man because of the incident regarding the relationship with him and his
daughter's son, David Hardy. Raising his only daughter, Louise Bentley grew up with many
disappointments of her father because he was never happy ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net
...
She develops a coping mechanism with loneliness by having a protective attachment to inanimate
objects. Her inability of turning away from a dream that will never come true causes her to limit "the
capacity for a variety of experience" (Howe). Because she is not open to finding new love, she
instills herself in her own tunnel with no sight of escape. Unable to find happiness within herself and
others she interacts with in her life, she reluctantly accepts the "fact that many people must live and
die alone, even in Winesburg," (Anderson 120). Her situation molds her to become a grotesque
because her loneliness becomes too much to handle. Instead of finding an outlet to happiness, she
settles with an unsatisfied heart and a negative perspective on the world. The grotesque becomes
depressed and cries for a substance that does not even exist, which is the love from Ned

Cruel Optimism And Grotesque In Winesburg, Ohio
Cruel Optimism and Grotesque in "Hands", Winesburg, Ohio
Sherwood Anderson (1876 – 1941), an American short story writer and novelist, is famous for
subjective and self–revealing works. In "Winesburg, Ohio" (1919), a collection of short stories,
Anderson wrote about citizens in Winesburg, Ohio; most of the characters are grotesque,
misunderstanding, inability to articulate, and alienation in society. The grotesques should be pitied
rather than dismissed. They have dream of ambition; they try to live for their desire; however, their
dream that they embraced become a falsehood. In the link with Anderson's idea, Lauren Berlant,
George M. Pullman Distinguished Service Professor of English at the University of Chicago, has
argued on the notion of "cruel optimism" or a phenomena that many people ... Show more content
In the "The Grotesque: First Principles", Geoffrey Harpham defines grotesque "almost as fluid as
that of beauty, is good for one era–even one man–at a time." (Harpham 461). Harpham supposes that
the grotesque is not consistent for conceptual accuracy, can be changed its definition depend on
what the author want to delivery to their reader. In the piece, "hands",Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood
Anderson, Wing Biddlebaum represents for grotesques characters that are unconnected, unhappy
and unfulfilled. For most of the stories in Winesburg, Ohio, grotesques defined as "the people took
one of the truths to himself, called it his truth, and tried to live his life by it, he became a grotesque
and the truth he embraced became a falsehood". (Sherwood Anderson). A person made the truths for
himself and each truth is a compound of many great specific thoughts. It is believed that all about in
the world is the truths, and they are beautiful. The truths that people pursuit can be the truth of
virginity, passion, wealth and poverty, thrift and profligacy, carelessness and abandon; however,
finally, all of these truths turn out nihilistic

Flannery O'Connor's A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Revelation
Southern gothic is a type of literature that focuses on the harsh conflicts of violence and racism,
which is observed in the perspective of black and white individuals. Some of the most familiar
southern authors are William Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor, and Cormac McCarthy. One author in
particular, Flannery O'Connor, is a remarkable author, who directly reflects upon southern grotesque
within her two short stories, "A Good Man is Hard to Find" and "Revelation." These two short
stories are very similar to each other, which is why I believe that O'Connor often writes with violent
characters to expose real violence in the world while tying them in with a particular spiritual insight.
The first short story that O'Connor refers to with ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
The grandmother feels that God provides the answer to any underlying problems, and the Misfit
knows and feels that all of the horrible things he has done are truly not considered morally wrong
from his perspective. Towards the end, when the grandmother experienced an epiphany before the
Misfit shot her in the chest she stated, "Why you're one of my babies. You're one of my own
children" (11). This made the grandmother realize that she was expressing the true Christian belief
that we are all seen as equal in the eyes of God, no matter how murderous someone may be.
O'Connor's use of spiritual insight stripped away the grandmothers self–centeredness, and helped
her discover the ability to see others with compassion and understanding. Nonetheless, within "A
Good Man is Hard to Find" O'Connor provides great amount of spiritual insight in her short stories
mainly as a way to connect her characters with God and to make them recognize the true meaning of
individual equality. The concept of judging other individuals based on their looks and class status is
a reflection seen within Flannery O'Connor's short story called "Revelation." In this story O'Connor
illustrates a women who is extremely arrogant, and believes that she is superior to others because of
her white skin and wealth. This

Grotesque In The Carnival Classroom
The grotesque can also symbolize social issues that affect students' lives and schoolwork–poverty,
socioeconomic power relations and class differences, abuse, substance abuse, depression, identity,
and sexuality. Students are dealing with many of these things but they are not often allowed a place
within the classroom. Standard classrooms strive to operate in separate spheres from students' lives
and social issues they are facing, but the carnival classroom would address those issues, much like
the Feast of Fools did. It is important for teachers to allow space for these issues in order to inspire
disadvantaged students to merge the learning platform with the platforms they are already on.
Giving students full range of freedom of voice in their writing assignments–allowing cursing, sex,
violence, etc.–can not only give an avenue to include the all–consuming issues they are faced with,
but also inspire them to actually do writing assignments, thereby completing learning goals. In an
article entitled, The Implications of Carnival Theory For Interpreting Drama Pedagogy, the use of
freedom in creative writing was used to train student's narrative skills, and the ... Show more content
The carnival classroom allows for students and teachers to collectively construct meaning and
learning through the dialogue between peers, teachers, and texts in a literature discussion (Delgatto
19). The carnival opens a space for these issues to be explored in a shared platform–a platform
which Bakhtin theorized would "engage a 'larger cultural conversations about interpretations and
possible meanings" This can even open a discussion among students to analyze how socially they
are being told to "choose another tale". Open discussion about social issues and identities as a part
of the carnival can expose students to "new social languages and meaning–making strategies' while
improving students' self–conscious reflection" (Delgatto

Essay Flannery O'Connor's Good Country People
Flannery O'Connor's "Good Country People"
In "Good Country People" by Flannery O'Connor, uses symbolism in the choice of names, almost to
the point of being ironic and humorous.
These names center around the personality and demeanor of the characters.
Hulga, once known as Joy, simply changed her name because it was the ugliest she could think of.
Mrs. Freeman's name is ironic because she is burdened by the land that she works, so is not really
free. Mrs. Hopewell?s name is also ironic, because she trys to provide hope, but is in fact empty in
her talk. Each one of these characters names, Hulga, Mrs. Freeman, and
Mrs. Hopewell, show the symbolism used by Flannery O'Connor.
Hulga, the daughter to Mrs. Hopewell, was actually ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
She does not think of herself as pretty, but in fact she believes that she is ugly and depressed and
actually enjoys feeling this way.
Mrs. Freeman is the tenet farmer for Mrs. Hopewell. Mrs. Freeman is very nosy and has a fondness
for the grotesque and secret infections. She has an attitude of trying to be someone she is not, almost
as if she is trying to be like Mrs. Hopewell. When Mrs. Hopewell stated to Mrs. Freeman one of her
many phrases ?that life was like that, Mrs. Freeman would say, ?I always said so myself.? Nothing
had been arrived at by anyone that had not first been arrived at by herself.? Mrs. Freeman?s name
could mean two things. One possible meaning is that a freed slave was called a freeman, but
Mrs. Freeman is a white tenet farmer, so technically she is not free. This could show how Mrs.
Freeman would rather be a freed black slave, rather than a poor white farmer tied to the land. The
other meaning is that when people first came to America, many people would become indentured
servants, and then over time they would eventually get their freedom. These people were called
freeman. This meaning could show how Mrs. Freeman had a desire to be free and not work for
someone else. One day Mrs.
Hopewell had said to Mrs. Freeman, ?You know, you?re the wheel behind the wheel,? and winked,
Mrs. Freeman had said, ?I know it. I?ve always been quick.? This shows that perhaps Mrs.

Examples Of Grotesque In Dracula
The grotesque can be defined in numerous manners. The grotesque can be regarded as the distortion
of an entity and the combination between animalistic and human attributes. The element of the
grotesque is commonly used as a device that blurs the borders between reality and fiction.
Moreover, it alters the familiar scenery into another unfamiliar and almost peculiar artistry. The
grotesque element is prominent in the gothic fictional novels. It enhances the turbulent settings, and
macabre occurrences. For example, the element of the grotesque is highlighted in Bram Stoker's
Dracula. Stoker's protagonist is considered to be the fragmentation of a distorted man, as he is
presumably dead for decades. Dracula is distorted physically and psychologically. For example, he
is neither a human being nor an animal. Moreover, he combines the elements of a human form, and
the physical attributes of a bat. He transforms into a young man, as well as, an old man. In addition,
he feeds on the blood of other creatures for survival, as a bat, "Blood is the life."(ch. 2) Furthermore,
Dracula is distorted psychologically. He craves love and affection from the reincarnated woman of
his dead beloved. Therefore, the grotesque element enhances the general sinister atmosphere. ...
Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
It is not easy to define the element in general terms, due to its changeable purposes from one literary
work to another. The supernatural exists to nourish the morbid desires and the gruesome thoughts
that exist in human nature. It stimulates their thirst of exploring the unknown. Generally in literature
the supernatural element has various impressions on the reader. As far as Gothic is concerned, it
centralizes the reader's thoughts on violence, fear, death and melancholic love. It paves the way to
the unexpected events that occur in the work of fiction; this is shown in

The Southern Gothic Is A Subgenre Of Gothic Fiction. The
The Southern Gothic is a subgenre of Gothic fiction. The Southern Gothic is best defined as a story
filled with irony, characters who fit the grotesque factor, social issues, violence, southern settings,
decay, outsiders, Civil War, and even slavery and race. Throughout Modern Southern Fiction, these
factors which create the Southern Gothic can be found in almost every literary work. In the novel by
Dorothy Allison titled Bastard Out of Carolina which was published in 1922, nearly every factor that
plays a role in the Southern Gothic can be found within, specifically the southern setting, social
settings, outsiders, the grotesque, and violence. In Bastard Out of Carolina, the setting in which the
characters reside in is a small town of ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
None of them are quite the same, in actuality, they are all quite different from one another, but the
one thing that makes them not outsiders to one another is the idea that all Boatwrights look the
same, that is, not all do, which causes there to be some type of "outsider" feel to some in the family.
The Boatwrights are looked down upon and it stems from the fact that nobody in the town likes
them. There is a grandmother who curses and chews snuff, there are two crazy aunts who dive into
the theory of witchcraft, there is an aunt who ran off with the carnival, there are uncles who are
beating up men left and right, there is Bone's mother who becomes pregnant at fourteen, and there is
even Bone and a cousin of hers who are quiet and that differentiates them from the rest of the
family. One can argue that Bone's mother, Anney, while unlike the other Boatwrights, meaning that
she is not wild and not running off to beat up whoever gets in her way, is the biggest outsider in the
town and causes the most abject social issues. Due to falling pregnant at the age of fourteen, Anney
was instantly looked down upon. The town saw those who gave birth to bastards as being the worst
of anything, therefore when Anney had to go downtown every year to sign the paperwork for Bone,
those who were in the courthouse looked down upon her, but she did not let that phase her. She was
a Boatwright and she was going to hold her

Flannery O'Conner and the use of grotesque character in...
"The representation of the grotesque is a characteristic of much 20th century writing" (Holman 61).
Almost all of O 'Connor 's short stories usually end in horrendous, freak fatalities or, at the very
least, a character 's emotional devastation. People have categorized O 'Connor 's work as "Southern
Gothic" (Walters 30). In Many of her short stories, A Good Man Is Hard To Find for example,
Flannery O 'Connor creates grotesque characters to illustrate the evil in people.
Written in 1953, A Good Man Is Hard To Find is one of O ' Connor 's most known pieces of work
and has received many awards. Throughout the story, you come across many twists and turns when
you least expect it. A Good Man Is Hard To Find is a story which includes religion, ... Show more
content on Helpwriting.net ...
O 'Connor writes in ways that let us know the characters thoughts without really coming out and
telling us. O 'Connor often changes the mood of the story very quickly from amusement to horror
and vice – versa. In her stories, grotesque is often used to tie together the seriousness and the
comedic situations. "Flannery O 'Connor said of her work, 'the look of the fiction is going to be
wild... it is almost of necessity going to be violent and comic; because of the discrepancies it seeks
to combine. '" (Walters 7).
Many had their own opinions of O 'Connor 's work. "The literary works of Flannery O 'Connor often
contend that religious belief can only be consummated by direct confrontation with evil and for
those uncommitted and unprepared, tragedy seems inevitable." (Cook Online). Many of the early
critics never realized that O 'Connor 's worked with revelation, which at the time, others did not
(Reagan Online). As Frederick Asals once said, "Conflict, often violent conflict, is the very center of
Flannery O 'Connor 's fiction"(93). Although O 'Connor 's work was awarded greatly, it was also
often "dismissed" because of its "Gothic Violence" (Reagan Online). I have to agree with Dorothy
Walters when she says, "...nothing is more striking than her remarkable capacity to blend the comic
and the serious in a single view of reality." (13).
O 'Connor was very successful each

The Significance of Names in Flannery O'Connor's Good...
The Significance of Names in Flannery O'Connor's "Good Country People"
Most of Flannery O'Connor's stories seem to contain the same elements: satirical and regional
humor, references to God and Christianity, violent similes and metaphors, lots of stereotypical
characters, grotesque humor and often focuses a lot of description on character's clothes and faces.
However, one of the most important elements of O'Connor's "Good Country People" is the relevance
of names. Her choice of names seem to give indications about the personalities of the characters and
seem to be more relevant to the story than what the reader would commonly overlook as simply
being stock character names. Mrs. Hopewell losing her "joy" (both her daughter and her ... Show
more content on Helpwriting.net ...
so that he could get rid of her sty. To the modern reader, this can be interpreted as a sexist remark
from Harvey Hill that a woman with any sort of ailment "needs? sex to "cure? herself, and again
could add to the inference of Glynese's sexual activity and intellectual capacity. Also, Southern
folklore deduces that a sty can sometimes be brought on by a prolonged abstinence from sex, and
soon diminishes once the person has sex again. The sudden disappearance of Glynese's sty proves
this point after a night of sexual activity with Harvey Hill. The contemporary interpretation of this
could be how women "glow? after a night of intense love making. However, since none of these
activities are common of an eighteen–year–old girl at this time, this is evidence of why O'Connor
chose to give her such an unusual name.
Then there is Ms. Hopewell. Her name seems to refer to her positivistic outlook on life and her
willingness to always, in a sense, hope for the best. She always has little sayings such as "nothing is
perfect,? "a smile never hurt anyone,? and "good country people are the salt of the earth,? which
suggest even more of a need to always seek out the best in people (172–176). Mrs. Hopewell "can't
be rude to anybody? and "could not understand deliberate rudeness, although she lived with it, and
she felt she had always to overflow with hospitality to make up for Joy's lack of course? (177). Even
when

“A Good Man is Hard to Find”: Comparing Flannery...
"A Good Man is Hard to Find": Comparing Flannery O'Connor's Literary Technique to Grotesque
Medieval Literature
Upon initially reading Flannery O'Connor's work, one would have no problem recognizing her use
of shocking, violent, or despairing themes. It may not be as easy, however, to completely accept or
understand her style. According to Patrick Galloway, one must be "initiated to her trademarks when
reading any of her two novels or thirty–two short stories (1).In many of her works, she paradoxically
uses styles that are grotesque and brutal to illustrate themes of grace and self–actualization. As
O'Connor herself says, "I have found that violence is strangely capable of returning my characters to
reality and preparing them to ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
in Enjolras 14).Therefore, despite the violence and death, O'Connor does the grandmother a favor by
allowing her a moment of self–understanding and grace (Galloway 3–4).
Author Anthony Di Renzo notes the effectiveness of O'Connor's use of thematic revelation.Rather
than opposing one another, good and evil instead exist as "equally odd, equally absurd, and equally
shocking" (122).The good and evil ironically converge to relay the message of grace, common
throughout her works. O'Connor wanted her stories "to reach the unbelieving reader," and the
shocking aspect of the grotesque was the most effective way to reach him/her (Hawkins 28–29).
In "A Good Man," even the physical appearance of the characters contributes to this grotesque
reality.In Flannery O'Connor's Characters, Laurence Enjolras analyzes the fictitious personalities
O'Connor has created.His chapter entitled "Physical Portrait: The Ugly Human Body" looks
specifically at characters in "A Good Man" (5). Enjolras emphasizes that O'Connor does not present
glamorous, idealized characters.Instead, she depicts the "ordinary" human being, notwithstanding
flaws or deformity

Flannery O Connor's Short Stories
"The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it."– Flannery O'Connor. After
reading a few of O'Connor's stories, it is apparent that she creates very grotesque characters with
very shocking conclusions. Without knowing of her style before hand, finishing one of her stories
can be alarming and disturbing, but there is always a purpose and meaning to extend upon her
themes. When talking about what people thought of this, O'Connor said, "when I see these stories
described as horror stories I am always amused because the reviewer always has hold of the wrong
horror." For example, in A Good Man Is Hard to Find many people would see the misfit as the most
disturbing when in actuality, O'Connor uses the Grandmother so make the biggest comment morals.
O'Connor uses a lot of foreshadowing in both her stories "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" and "Good
Country People". Flannery O'Connor develops

Characteristics Of Grotesque

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