At first glance, Flannery O'Connor's work seems to begin and end with desperation. In many of his works, he paradoxically uses grotesque and brutal styles to illustrate themes of grace and self-realization. The use of violence brings his character back to reality and prepares him for grace. Violence is part of a relentless, sometimes terrifying grace that haunts his characters. It shows a violence similar to that which threw Saul from his horse and blinded him, and the same grace that pushed the disciples to the ends of the earth where they suffered an atrocious death. This suffering and violence is not just an unfortunate reality that Christians sometimes face, but is an integral part of what it means to encounter Christ. Although disturbing, O'Connor's anagogical paradox is an effective literary technique, deepening the meaning of his stories so that the proud are humbled, the ignorant are enlightened, and the wise are shown that the wisdom of the world is folly. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Sin is a disease that every person has, but we are often unaware of the extent of its metastasis. As found in the book of Genesis, the first sin that caused humanity's fall was pride, a true spiritual disease. It is a sin to deceive people into believing that they themselves are God-level people, claiming that they want their will to be done, rather than the will of God. An obsession that causes the love of power and exercise of one's own will, as well as having control. The way the proud can gain humility is for them to be healed spiritually. For Mrs. Turpin, this spiritual healing of her pride occurs in a doctor's waiting room, which symbolizes how one attends church to meet God and have one's sins forgiven. Through the description of Mrs. Turpin as “very large” who “made [the waiting room] seem even smaller with her presence” (488), we can conclude that her pride gave her a commanding presence, and she assumes he has power over the other people in the waiting room. This power leads her to make judgments about these people as we see that she has “considered the seating situation.” O'Connor uses the character of Mary Grace to show Mrs. Turpin a revelation and, as the name suggests, she receives God's grace. As we see through this character, the eyes are truly the windows to the soul and looking into the soul of the Mrs. Turpin you are able to show you this grace. She is the only character in this story to have anagogical vision, although we later see Mrs. Turpin begin to see spiritual meanings of things. This occurs through a revelation, appropriately the title of the story, which is a force-seeing event, forces Mrs. Turpin to see her pride as sin and the spiritual meaning of the world. Later there is a scene where Mary Grace looks through Mrs. Turpin, showing her ability to see into Mrs. Turpin's soul. Turpin can see nothing behind her, only vague figures, meaning she is blind to her own sin. We also see that Mary's eyes "seemed to suddenly light up with a particular light, and an unnatural light like the night road signs give", showing her anagogical vision. The reference to Mary Grace's eyes as road signs represents a sign or path for Mrs. Turpin to take. Since Mary Grace has anagogical vision, she sees that Mrs. Turpin needs to take the path of humility and is trying to push her tosee it. In a later scene, we see another description of Mary Grace's eyes being "fixed like two drills on Mrs. Turpino." This reference to a drill means that Mary Grace is pressuring Mrs. Turpin to shed the shell of pride she has, as a drill is used to break through a hard surface, trying to get to what is underneath. With her eyes that say “This time there was no doubt that there was something urgent behind them” we can see that Maria is urgently trying to get Mrs. Turpin to take a look at herself and the things she believe. Once Mary Grace attacks Mrs. Turpin, she realizes that the girl's eyes "seemed a much lighter blue than before, as if a door that had been tightly closed behind them was now open to let in the light and the air.” Mrs. Turpin is about to open a door on her own belief system and look at herself in a different light. It is through the vision she has at the end of the story that she realizes that she is wrong in what she believes and it is through the awareness of being wrong that Mrs. Turpin receives the grace. Taking a look at the choice of words used by O'Connor, we can understand why he chose the color blue to describe the eye of Mary Grace, since Mary, the mother of Jesus, also she is represented by this color and is also a symbol of Grace since it is through Her that Jesus was able to come to earth and give grace to all sinners. Mary Grace's attack is a public humiliation for Mrs. Turpin who allows herself to be publicly humiliated. Consequences of this revelation prove to have a humiliating effect on Mrs. Turpin. She is starting to become more like Mary Grace with anagogical vision as we see that "her eyes began to burn" just like the eyes of. Mary Grace were described as "burning and flaming" which was a fire to cleanse Mrs. Turpin's sins, but now she is beginning to realize these sins. This is significant, because before Mrs. Turpin's eyes were full of pride, but now that they are compared to Mary Grace's eyes, we see that her eyes now burn with something other than pride. We also see that he "doesn't bother to tie" his shoes, whereas shoes were what he based his judgment of others on. Now that he doesn't care about the appearance of his shoes shows that he doesn't care about other people's judgments and shows his humility. "Here the lower lip protrudes dangerously" can be seen as a reference to both Mary Grace and these pigs. Being compared to a pig is a sign of humility, as in this story pigs are referred to as the humble and fallen human nature. While Mrs. Turpin has a revelation in which she sees herself, Claud, and those of equal socioeconomic status in line. of the Paradise procession, he realizes that he is just like the pigs and needs to become more humble, showing his pride subside. Send a prayer to God, saying, “Put that lower railing on. There will still be an above and a below” (507). He challenges God to put it on the bottom, referencing Matthew 20:16: “So the last shall be first, and the first shall be last.” He begins to understand that to have an anagogical vision it is not possible to put oneself first, but to lower oneself to the place of servant and allow everyone to receive honor before oneself. At the end of the story we see that “the sun was behind the forest, very red”, indicating that it was setting. The sun is a parallel to the son of God, with the wood reminiscent of the cross and the red of blood and death, showing that the sun setting is a reference to the son dying. The death of Jesus was the greatest example of grace,having been sent to save all sinners from our sins. The presence of Christ's redeeming love was a sacrifice to the world. This is why he got another chance, because through the violence of Christ's death we are able to have grace and we are given the opportunity to have a second chance. Through the story Greenleaf, O'Connor portrays a story of God's grace as he used the bull as a representation of Jesus and it is death the sacrifice he made for man. Mrs. May is not a likable character, but O'Connor always uses disturbing and unlikable characters to shatter our complacency and show God's grace. Mrs. Greenleaf is similar to Mary Grace in that she is the only person in the story to have anagogical vision, while Mrs. May is similar to Mrs. Turpin and cannot see anagogically. She can see "dim grays and greens... through the window", which shows that she has some vision, but is anagogically blind. Similar to Mrs. Turpin, we see her healed spiritually through the words “merry,” “rest,” and “closed her eyes” where she draws her happiness from nature (330, 332). Nature helps show God's beauty as an example of His creation, being the representation of His grace. Through the use of an insightful metaphor "The light outside wasn't that bright but she was aware that the sun was directly overhead, like a silver bullet ready to fall into her brain" we see that Mrs May instinctively turns away from the light of the son, the grace of God. This story shows us that grace is an encounter with God that saves us from our spiritual sickness, which in Mrs. May's case is her pride. To be in control means choosing yourself rather than God's hand in nature, where nature is the gateway of grace. The most ironic thing in all this is that the first time Mrs May becomes aware of the bull's presence is when it is asleep, which is when we lack control. As the bull is charging towards her, he is described as "merry" and "overjoyed", showing that he is courting her, calling to her when his will is suspended, similar to how God afflicts his children. Perhaps the most obvious example of grace in this story is the reference to the chalice in which the communion wine is served, which represents the shed blood of Christ which is the reason for our salvation. Immediately before Mrs. May's death “she had the appearance of a person whose sight has been suddenly restored but who finds the light unbearable” demonstrating that she had been given anagogical vision (333). To save Mrs. May, the bull must die and serve as a sacrifice, which shows how the sacrifice Jesus made was the ultimate example of grace. In the story The Lame Shall Enter First, O'Connor uses the grotesque to literalize metaphors, which was found to have been an important theme in many of his works. This story may be difficult for the reader to understand, because Sheppard is portrayed as the antagonist, but it is written in our language. It is a reflection of ourselves, but we see that no one in O'Connor's stories is beyond redemption, including ourselves, believing that in God all things are possible. O'Connor shows us grace in evil, through how Rufus is closer to salvation than Sheppard because of his awareness of evil. Rufus is the symbol of sacrifice, through the description of red, symbolizing the blood of Christ, and through his proclamation that "no one can save him but Jesus" (474). His statement “The lame will go in first!” what inspired the title is an act of grace towards Sheppard, who calls him to humble himself (480). Rufus is one of the representations of anagogical vision.