I claim them all.

I have to admit that after reading two of Flannery O’Connor’s short stories, I wasn’t exactly brimming with anticipation at the idea of getting through one of her full length novels–I had become disenchanted with her blatant religious themes that could have been so much more deeper had we been given the freedom to analyze her works from a non-religious standpoint.

That said, I had finished the entire novel by Thursday.

Wise Blood felt like such a breath of fresh air: relatively quick-moving, laced with humorous interactions involving some of the oddest yet believable characters imaginable, and of course, the delightful surprise that I was wrong in my initial presumptions. You win this time, O’Connor.

I’m hesitant to say too much about my overall experience with the book simply because I don’t wish to give any unwanted information away to my classmates (not like anybody reads anybody else’s blog anymore), so I’ll save any deep discussion for class time. After all, isn’t the first blog post on a novel expected to be more observatory than thematically rich?

I will say that O’Connor’s characters somewhat remind me of Walker’s characters in The Moviegoer, the exception being that they are interesting. Enoch and Hazel succumb to their compulsions much like Binx and Kate, although Hazel may have an impulse to jump on a car and preach blasphemy while Binx may simply feel inclined to sleep on the floor for part of the night. O’Connor seems to take that peculiar aspect of her characters and magnify it to the point that it propels action and plot forward. After all, at times Enoch commits crimes simply based on a “feeling”.

Just another ordinary scene in "Wise Blood"

I assumed that this would be just another blog covering ideas and remarks on certain gems within The Moviegoer. Miscalculating as I can occasionally tend to be, I find that this blog is now about my interpretation of overall meaning. Unfortunately, I’m sure I missed a meaty little conversation in the AP Lit classroom as I sat in a squeaky  hallway desk getting through the last 30 or so pages. Regardless, I felt that I’d developed a sense of meaning by around the end of Part II, so I suppose I don’t feel as blind as I could be when it comes to analysis of Percy’s work.

Obviously, I could name the screaming issue of “the search”, but that’s almost too easy. No doubt Percy meant for “the search” to play a large role in theme and meaning, as shown by his outlining of it through repetition and blatant overuse. Ironically, there is never a really concrete definition of “the search”, despite it’s celebratory status in the novel. Instead, Percy refers to what I can only assume as loose synonyms to mold “the search” into some scarcely tangible idea: “the mystery” and “the wonder”. The search, to me, doesn’t seem as much like reaching a distinct endpoint as not allowing oneself to fall into a rigid and predestined path of routine. Even the idea of being content that we discussed in class doesn’t necessarily work for me–I would prefer to call it a state of numb, neophobic, close-minded, consistence.

I carried with me a very cynical outlook while reading this novel, yet I do find myself changed in some ways–how could there be no overall meaning if I feel different on a very raw and sensory level after reading 20 or so pages at a time? Percy speaks to me and tells me to go out and experience the new that is hidden in a thick shroud of everydayness–walk to school one day just to know what happens in all of that dead, nonexistent space between my home and school; sleep on the floor when things are getting just a bit too comfortable.

Of course, there are much more complex themes woven together, but I won’t even attempt to cover them in a modest blog post. Give me 30 pages of paper and 48 hours, and I may be able to wrap my thoughts around Percy’s work. Until then, I am stuck giving a sensory interpretation of Percy’s overall meaning, because it resounded most strongly with me on that level.

P.S. The quote is from pg. 180–one of my favorite encounters.

And THIS is why I love Robert Frost.