On The Christian Existentialism Of The Violence In Flannery O’ Connor’s Novels

Flannery O’Connor widely used violence element in her novels so that the novels readhorrible that makes an illusion of inheriting Gothic tradition in American literature. At the sametime, O’Conner was a devout Catholic, having a strong emotional dependence on Christianity,also greatly influenced by existentialism. Therefore, the violence as a carrier in O’Connor’snovels, expresses a keen Christian existentialism connotation.The thesis is divided into five parts. The first part is introduction, briefly introducing thelife O’Connor and her works, analyzing the related literature at home and abroad, andexplaining the significance of this research. The second part mainly discusses the relationshipbetween the violence and the Realism of Distance in O’Connor’s novels. So-called “Realism ofDistance” is a text form created by O’Connor which has a similar appearance with traditionalRealism but having a basic difference on the “ultimate reality”. In O’Connor’s view,“ultimatereality” is experience of mystery related with revelation logic. The representation of mysteryalso depends on concrete. But for defamiliarization, the concrete should be transformed anddistorted, so that the reader can reach the “ultimate reality” which the writer wants to expressthrough the appearance reality. Violence is one of the important means that O’Connor used todefamiliarize the appearance reality. The third part through that violence as a kind of livingexperience, the free will of character and a way to get rid of others bound, discusses therelationship between the Existence and violence in O’Connor’s works. The forth part discussesthe theology as the foundation of Existentialism in O’Connor’s novels. This part first analyseshow O’Connor reveals two basic religious doctrines, original sin and salvation from therelationship between violence and them, and then indicates that violence is a way whichO’Connor with the guidance of theology used to imitate and reflect the current human existence.The fifth part is the conclusion, basing on the above chapters, mainly explains the importanceof violence in O Conner’s novels in theme expression, and analyses the originality themanifestation of theology in her works.