Flannery O'Connor Group

"'He told himself that he was indifferent even to his own dissolution" (454).
Flannery O'Connor's The Violent Bear It Away (1960)

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 Six: The Violent Bear It Away (1960), chps 1-4

• option one: does the tale suggest that the old man who raises Tarwater was indeed a prophet touched by God, or was he insane and deserving of permanent institutionalization?
• option two: is Tarwater successful, throughout chapters 1-4, in his attempts to “to keep his vision located on an even level, to see no more than what was in front of his face and to let his eyes stop at the surface of that” (343)?
• option three: an array of characters in this tale boast of being “free,” or granting one another true “freedom.”  Which of the main characters actually exhibits the greatest freedom of action and thought?
• option four: which of our central characters loves the idiot boy (the schoolteacher’s son) the most? Be sure to provide an operational definition of "love" early in your response.
• option five: consider the various accusations thrown by old Tarwater at the schoolteacher as part of young Tarwater's education. Do chapters 3-4 reveal the falsity of these accusations, or underscore their validity?
• option six: does Rayber, the schoolteacher, value the mind more than the heart?

Week Seven: The Violent Bear It Away (1960), chps 5-12

• option one: Rayber, the schoolteacher, frequently praises the capacity of the human mind: do his own intelligence, education, and logic serve him well? Consider closely those various moments where he gathers together his powers of reason in order to make a decision or interpret something he has witnessed.
• option two: what does Frank (young Tarwater) mean by his reiterated claim that one "can just say NO," but needs to "do NO"?
• option three: what symbolic and practical functions does Bishop serve for his father, Rayber?
• option four: is Bishop fully human, as rendered by O'Connor? Be sure to include a definition of "human" in your response.
• option five: what/who is the disembodied "friend" who speaks to Frank (young "Tarwater") throughout this tale?
• option six: two what differing, consistent purposes does O'Connor put each of the following colors? violet/velvet and grey.
• option seven: a number of characters have visions, sometimes while sleeping, at other times while fully awake. Do these visions convey truth to the characters who have them, or lies?
• option eight: why might O'Connor have named this novella The Violent Bear It Away?

I.Q. Chart

Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu