Unavoidable destiny flannery o connor s southern

Story, Oedipus, Oedipus Rex

Flannery O’Connor’s Smart Blood is actually a powerfully distressing novel with regards to a shed man

in the ridicule, dark world of the American South. Printed in 49, Wise Blood’s protagonist

Hazel Motes serves as a reflection of the power of mythology that continues to assert itself in

O’Connor’s text. Through the entire course of the novel, Hazel Motes’s persona aids Sensible Blood in

learning to be a southern edition of one of classical literature’s most remarkable stories those of

Oedipus the California king. Although some areas of the book are strictly evident of the impact of

twentieth century the southern area of culture on one’s faith based identity, Sensible Blood properly mirrors the

predicament of lives that is similarly present Sophocless Theban Cycle, written and performed even more

than two thousand years prior. Understanding Oedipus’s oblivion and subsequent tragic

happiness of prediction is greatly helpful in the analysis of Hazel Terme as a man struggling

with trust in the darkness and distortion of religion inside the American South.

From the onset of the accounts the reader receives concerning Hazel Motes’ birth and the

circumstances of his child years, one can quickly draw parallels between the commence of his own life

which of tragic Oedipus. Conditions surrounding Oedipus’s birth are very unfortunate,

and although Hazel’s usually are nearly as dramatic, there is certainly apparent even now a degree of prophecy that

both characters will probably be encouraged in order to avoid. Hazel’s prediction seems to come from the location of

his grandpa in society as a preacher delivering The lord’s message via his car, the concrete

mark of commercial mobility. Hazel’s conformative years concern his with the knowledge that he was

destined to turn into a preacher just like his grandfather when he comes of age, the start of the

novel concerns his outright declarations against being a preacher, no matter how very much closely he

look like one. Hazel Motes can be not a gentleman of many phrases, but the words he does speak typically

start with the words “I am” or “I are not”. The statements above of his definition of personality are

attempts to reject his association with Christianity, yet no matter how hard he tries to escape this, it

is impossible to move. Hazel Expression takes to his Essex and the House of worship Without Christ like

Oedipus requires to the top of Thebes, these real symbols of power or perhaps newfound personality

might seem like the ultimate usurpation of destiny, but are sadly not as infallible because the

characters wish to believe. Much like the grotesque, operating class southerners of

O’Connor’s fictional that have a problem with the conflation of the involvement of bad thing, the desire to cling

to something for the sense of truth in the world, and bogus confession, the protagonists are

finally clinging into a “truth” that could fail these people. Like Oedipus, Hazel Motes sets out in a

world in the hopes that his transience and outspokenness against future will adjust it in his favor.

However , each man is going to ultimately know that destiny cannot be avoided and this prophecy

will be achieved, regardless of their particular attempts in rebuttal.

The transience of Oedipus through his wish to escape his destiny uncovered by prophecy is

reflected in Hazel’s range of motion away from his Protestant upbringing and towards his pursuit of

nihilism. Both characters’ efforts to flee and stay away from destiny just bring them closer and closer

to its satisfaction, whether they understand it in the moment or certainly not. Oedipus abandons Corinth

in fear of the prediction of eradicating his dad and getting married to his mother, only to unknowingly

killing his dad during this period of transition. Precisely what is so interesting about the text of

both stories is that the two men lead to killing a single man of significance throughout their travels of

get away. The mission that both characters undertake result in the homicide of a man who resembles

them in some way, whether they realize the extent of the resemblance or perhaps not. Hazel violently

runs above his “twin prophet” as an exercise of his power as a gentleman who is planning to devalue the

idea of sin, and Oedipus gets rid of his very own father more than an essentially meaningless concern concerning

chariot targeted traffic. The men devote these murders without thinking about the consequences, failing

to understand that the fatalities will arranged into action the later on mutilation of self plus the continuation of

the fulfillment of prophecy. If Hazel thus strongly is convinced that there is none in the world as trouble, he

fails by his ability to cope with his actions. Oedipus, likewise, must come to terms with the

fact, no matter how uneasy or incredible it may seem. Trouble cannot simply be washed

away and forgotten, since O’Connor’s grotesque southerners are portrayed to think. Both males will

be forced to fully understand the true the law of gravity of their situations, and, because of this, they will

become literally blinded by simply everything that they tried so hard to avoid arriving at terms with. They

can’t simply confess their particular sin and continue to live their hails from the same guilty manner, thinking

that they can be redeemed since O’Connor’s southerners believe.

Raising correlation between your tragedy of Oedipus and that of Hazel Motes can be

their willingness to interact in physical torture as a result of the satisfaction of their prophecies.

The mutilation of self, while it screams mental distress, is definitely an effort to redemption,

something that the two characters never knew they can need or perhaps want to enjoy. The trope of

sight can be embedded therefore heavily in to both reports, and the window blind advisor numbers of the two Tiresias and

Mango Hawkes foreshadow that the tragic heroes can ultimately cause becoming blind in order

to finally “see” the fact. Hazel’s clouded vision through the course of the novel is peculiar in

how that it prevents him coming from consciously noticing the details on the planet that surrounds

him. His failure to pay attention to the proceedings around him is too very much like Oedipus’

overlooking of the all the obvious ideas he will get about the prophecy staying fulfilled.

The smoothness of Hazel Motes may be read as an essentially modern refiguring of Oedipus,

the king of Thebes that consciously endeavors, but unfortunately fails, to avoid the fulfillment of his

success. O’Connor’s reimagining of this persona in Sensible Blood, nevertheless , emphasizes the

associated with the conflation of seglar and faith based culture in the south, wherever racism,

commercialism, and various means of guilty entertainment are beginning to run rampant.

One’s sense of identity is often tied towards their materials possessions, while made noticeable in

Hazel’s statement that “Nobody with a good car needs to be justified” (O’Connor, 72). The “sin

sational” advertising that problem the cities, seducing people into attending secular

spectacles always distract southerners from typically stressed Christian values. The

question becomes: you can struggling with faith function in a world where they are

constantly enticed by the sin of secularism? Hazel Expression fails to begin to see the reality in the evil that

surrounds him. Simple sin and confession appears ridiculous and redundant, particularly in the

methods the working school Protestants portrayed in the story are quick to dedicate sin mainly because

that they feel that a basic confession will rid these people of their incorrect doing. Obviously Hazel Expression is

confused by simply Christianity. He could be too sightless to see the benefit of reputable redemption and the

personal security of living a genuinely devout religious lifestyle. The society that he was born into and

forced to navigate after his go back home through the war continues to ruin his ability to rely on

the true grace of God because of the prevalence of fraudulent Christian believers. Blinding him self from

the attraction of the increasing secular globe is the simply way for Hazel to come to terms

with all the concepts of faith, sin, and redemption. He would simply continue to be unable to

understand the true meaning of redemption if perhaps he continued to bodily observe the corruption

that surrounds him on a daily basis.

Studying Wise Bloodstream in the picture of Oedipus Rex is hard not to do in case the reader provides

used the work of Sophocles. This kind of association makes an interesting get point

through which someone can magnify the plight of Hazel Terme, increasing both equally his tragic

nature and the reader’s understanding of reasoning behind his torture of self. As the

lure of the American South might be unique to its location and period of time, the southern

version of this time-honored tale nonetheless emphasizes that one’s mental constrictions can result in

their very own downfall. For Oedipus, his tragic catch is his undeniable hubris and inability to listen to

those about him, nevertheless for Hazel, his is much less obvious. Hazel’s flaw is based on his oblivion, his

preoccupations with nihilism as well as the rejection of his personality, and his failure to see the nasty in

the environment that surrounds him.