I have read three short stories by O’Conner now and I have a few thoughts. First it seems as though she focuses on a couple of primary themes. She has a preoccupation with the interior life of the person. By that I mean that she spends a good deal of time showing the conflict between the inner mind and the reality of the world. In fact much of the conflict that arises between characters seems to be as a result of the gulf that exists between how characters understand one-another (or misunderstand).

 

Another major theme seems to be that of entrapment. Characters stress seems to result primarily from a sense of being trapped in circumstance or life situation.

 

The two themes play off each feeding one-anther. The sense of entrapment feed the conflict and the conflict feeds the sense of entrapemnt. It is also interesting to note how deeply the characters judge one-another based solely on small actions. The irony is that our own view of the protagonist’s inner life suggests that to judge them based upon various actions would be significantly wrong.

 

There are other themes that run through the writing. Cultural themes based upn the context of early 20th century United States and the South which include racism and civil rights. It will be interesting to see how these ideas develop through her writing. The O’Conner book I have contains the stories in chronological order so seeing themes develop should be possible.

 

That’s it for now – if you’ve read any O’Conner let me know.