Cannonball Read 3 - Review #3 - The Violent Bear It Away by Flannery O'Connor

I have read nearly everything that Flannery O'Connor has written, being from Georgia and then an English major at a Jesuit university. Labeled one of the "Southern Gothic" writers, O'Connor's work is rife with grotesque characters and heavy on religion. She rejected secular ideals and encouraged her readers, through her characters, to reject shallow fundamentalism and self-centered, secular ways and choose the path to God. She was a devout Roman Catholic from Savannah, Georgia, and she died of lupus at the young age of thirty-nine. In my experience, she incites very strong opinions, either enthusiastic interest or shocked revulsion. She does not speak to everybody, I guess, but I admire Flannery and appreciate her work. She doesn't write about religious issues in hushed tones or with rose-colored glasses. She calls out the people who say one thing but mean another, and she gives horrible and disgusting people a chance at grace. Her characters struggle with faith, they get confused, they make mistakes. Her work isn't soothing or cheerful, but it's creative and it provokes. I prefer provocation to platitudes.

Francis Tarwater is a young boy who has been raised by his crazy Bible thumper great-uncle out in the middle of nowhere. His great-uncle has prophesied that Tarwater will become a prophet and baptize his cousin Bishop, the mentally handicapped son of his uncle, Rayber. After Tarwater's great-uncle dies suddenly, Tarwater hitches a ride into the big city to find his uncle Rayber to live with him. Rayber is a schoolteacher, who also briefly fell under the spell of the crazy great-uncle when he was younger, but who ultimately rejected his teachings about Jesus, becoming an atheist. Tarwater's stay with Rayber and his little cousin Bishop is strained, to put it lightly. He is confused, as he was raised by his evangelical great-uncle, and is now being taught the opposite by his uncle Rayber. He desperately wants to be a free man, making his own way in life, but resents both father figures for what they teach him.

The Violent Bear It Away is ultimately about Tarwater's path to his destiny. O'Connor's characters run into their trouble when they actively ignore the truth, or they are ignorant to it. She incites her readers to wake up and look around, to stop being so prideful, but to see God's grace. Her Christian faith is at the forefront of her work, always, and she encourages her characters to choose the complicated and trying, but ultimately rewarding path towards God and salvation.