Wise+Blood

Wiki by Alex S.

Genre: Southern Gothic Novel
=About the Author:=

==Flannery O'Connor was born on March 25, 1925 in Savannah, Georgia. Her dad's name was Edward F. O'Connor and her mom's name was Regina Cline. Her dad suffered from lupus in 1937 and later died on February 1, 1941 when she was only 15. Flannery O'Connor was very close to her dad and was shocked by his loss. She overcame her loss and then went on to graduate from the Peabody Laboratory School in 1942. After that she entered in Georgia College and State University in an accelerated three-year program, and later graduated in June 1945 with a Social Sciences degree. In 1946 she was accepted into the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa, where she first went to study journalism. In 1951 she was diagnosed with lupus, and had to return to her farm in Milledgeville, Georgia. The doctors told Flannery that she only had five more years to live but she persevered and lived for fourteen. She never got married but was accompanied from her close relationship with her mother and many of her friends. Flannery completed more than two dozen short stories and two novels while she was sick. She died on August 3, 1964, at the age of 39 from lupus at Baldwin County Hospital and was buried in Milledgeville, Georgia, at Memory Hill Cemetery. For more information on Flannery O'Connor, [|click here].==



=Plot Synopsis:=

==Hazel Motes begins the story after he has returned from serving in the Army. After he returns to his house he finds his family has abandoned the home. Realizing he has no where else to go, he sets off by train to the city of Taulkinham to start a new life.There, he meets new people and starts his own church and becomes what everyone in his family has been, a preacher. Haze struggles to gain new followers as he encounters impostors, new found challenges, and many new secrets about himself and his relationship with God. Can Hazel find a way out of these predicaments? Read the book to find out...==

=Literary Information:=

==Wise Blood is written from a narrative point of view. From this perspective, the author can enter the minds of all the characters and tell their thoughts. The narrator knows every thought of every character of every moment in the story. At the end of the novel, however, Flannery O'Connor switches to the omniscient point of view, with Mrs. Flood telling the story. After this switch, the narrator still knows everything that is going on, the only change is that the narrator does not directly tell it to the reader. So the reader must infer some details about anything that is not directly mentioned by the==

narrator. The genre of Wise Blood is Southern Gothic Novel because it is a story about a southern boy who has rather depressing experiences in his life.
=Literary Analysis:=

==The diction in this story is very informal. Throughout the whole story the characters use slang and dialect from the south. All of the narration and talking that comes from the characters is very informal and we would normally talk to our closest friends or family members in that way. Also, the word choice in the story is very easy to understand making it a friendly environment to read in. The words make the reading smooth and easy to comprehend while still getting the point across. The words chosen also help convey the setting the author is trying to get across because the words used in the book are the same used in the setting of where the book takes place.==

=Criticism:=

==I personally thought that the book was very interesting. If I were to give it a rating from 1-5 stars, five being the best, I would give it a 3 1/2. My reasoning behind this rating is because of the topic. The topic of religion is a very controversial issue that leads to many arguments and issues. I think that the author did a very nice job of portraying a event that many people go through in their lives. I think I learned some things about how to conduct my religion if I so choose to have one, and I think that it can interest and help many people as well. The only thing about the book that set me back was the repetition in the characters' dialogue. The author wrote the dialogue so the characters repeat the same sentences over and over many times throughout the book and that drove me crazy. Other than that it is a great book. Check it out!==

If this book sounded good, check out some of these...
Lord of the Flies, 1984, or Fahrenheit 451

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