Flannery O’Connor and Working-Class Literature :: Biography Biographies Essays

Flannery O’Connor and Working-Class Literature Although Flannery O’Connor could not herself technically be called a member of the working class, the majority of her characters exist as â€Å"good country people† or those who have been displaced from the city to the farm. Whatever the situation of the characters, rural, working-class life is nearly always the focus in her work. Just a few of the critical elements of the working-class genre that O’Connor offers in her pieces include: a show of the many differences between classes, chiefly the ideas that working-class people are happier in their station in life and also experience less loneliness than those of the upper classes, and a heavy focus on the authentic dialogue of the southern working classes. She employs these elements expertly in her work. O’Connor’s texts often address the differences between the working classes and the â€Å"owning† classes. In their article, "Toward a Theory of Working-Class Literature," Renny Christopher and Carolyn Whitson comment that â€Å"working-class culture does not celebrate individuality. It instead recognizes the interdependence of units of people: family, community, friends, unions† (76). O’Connor confirms the benefits of community that the working class offers by showing upper-class loneliness. In â€Å"Good Country People,† the farm owner’s well-educated daughter is very depressed and lonely but chooses to be so. When her mother and she walk the fields together, the daughter’s â€Å"remarks were usually so ugly and her face so glum.† She rigidly interacted with her mother, not showing any signs of family, community or solidarity with her at all. She informs her mother, â€Å"if you want me, here I am – LIKE I AM† (274). There is no willingness to commune. Loneliness is also shown among many other middle-class characters in O’Connor’s work – the farm owner in â€Å"The Displaced Person,† the teacher Rayber in â€Å"The Barber,† and Mrs. Turpin in â€Å"Revelation† are some additional examples. Christopher and Whitson claim that â€Å"working-class culture has its own exceptional people who do not choose to leave their culture.† O’Connor’s pieces support this idea. Often she paints the middle-class characters in her pieces as ridiculous or unhappy where the working-class is seemingly well-adjusted and satisfied with their place in life. Old Dudley, in the story â€Å"The Geranium,† finds himself living in â€Å"better† conditions in New York City, having left the poor country life as a boarder and fix-it man in Georgia.