Flannery O'Connor Group

“I am not responsible for the world's misery" (315).
"The Displaced Person" (1955)

Guidelines

Responses to Path 2 prompts should deliver a structured, narrow argument in only 400-500 words, one you publish on Blackboard by 11:59 p.m. on Friday. Arguments should evince creativity and organization, support their claims with detailed evidence ( incl. page citations), and show signs of careful revision. Remember too that whether I happen to agree or not with your thesis matters little, as long as it is sufficiently supported and logically, persuasively rendered.

Some of the strongest essays will incorporate ideas from path 2 essays written by your peers and/or pertinent path 1 discussions and topics, though neither is required.

Week ______: "The Displaced Person" (1955)

• option one: do any of these characters encounter circumstances that force them to interrogate their own xenophobia and/or racism?
• option two: consider the symbolic function of the ubiquitous peacock on Mrs. McIntyre's farm.
• option three: why does Flannery O’Connor allow so many of her characters in this story to speak truths aloud, then remain ignorant of these truths’ applications to themselves?
• option four: what motivates the actions of the eighty-year-old priest?
• option five: how does the final “vision” of Mrs. Shortley (305, 318) differ from those that precede it (291 top, 300, 301-302)?
• option six: what type of value system does Mrs. McIntyre use to justify her actions throughout this story?
• option seven: when the Priest claims “‘He came to redeem us’” (317 bot), is he speaking of either Mr. Guizac or Jesus Christ?

"Peacock and Peacock Butterfly" (1917)
Archibald Thorburn

Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu