Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

1974

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Pearce, Howard D.

Abstract

Flannery O'Connor's short stories often involve a moment of recognition/reversal in which an offering of grace is accompanied by a toppling of the protagonist's sense of social order. The protagonist, who considers himself in some way superior, may be "leveled" into a chaotic equality with all sinners, or he may find the tables turned on him: one who was "first" may become "last." Or both these things may happen to the same protagonist. Such protagonists may be Strong Women, who need to believe in an ordered world to maintain their security and status, or Intellectuals, who isolate themselves from the real world, or Displaced Persons, who experience disorder through displacement, or Dwellers in the Past or the Future, who attempt to escape disorder through a retreat into different time periods. Various devices in the stories, such as the double, irony, and symbols, heighten the sense of disorder.

Extent

62 p.

Comments

Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1974.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters

Identifier

FADT13619

Format

pdf

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