Abstract
Grotesque character commonly refers to Southern Black or Black character who represents “misfit” and “freak” and bad things. Grotesque character is often used in Flannery O’Connor’s short stories to criticize the issues in society. In the short story “The Geranium,” she criticizes the Black racial issue in White society at that time. This paper aims at showing how a White character, Old Dudley, who is considered as having high status, is placed as a grotesque character in the form of a “freak” person with dislocations and hallucination. This paper also intends to show how O’Connor represents Southern, and Northern Black characters legitimated as grotesque or evil in White society indeed have good sides. This study finds out that grotesque is used to address a criticism toward White supremacy on Black subordination and that grotesque is indeed a bad part of the dual quality (good and bad) of all human characters in the short story.
Highlights
The term grotesque in literature commonly refers to Southern American characters, including Southern Black characters in literature
She uses grotesque in her short story “The Good Man is Hard to Find” (1953) as a mechanism to purify the Southern American society that has been far away from religious belief (Windriani, 2018). Many of her short stories that include grotesque characters are to reflect the condition of society. She often highlights the theme that is related to race, especially in her short stories of “The Geranium” and “The Judgment Day,” in which the characters are presented as displaced Southerners whose lives are to circumnavigate in Northern cities (Weinshilboum, 2009)
This paper aims at contributing to one revelation of O’Connor’s “The Geranium,” on how she works on her White and Black characters to criticize the society told in her short story
Summary
The term grotesque in literature commonly refers to Southern American characters, including Southern Black characters in literature. One of the American writers that often uses grotesque in her work is Flannery O’Connor She is a Southern American writer that presents the grotesque characters to criticize the unstable society during her time. She uses grotesque in her short story “The Good Man is Hard to Find” (1953) as a mechanism to purify the Southern American society that has been far away from religious belief (Windriani, 2018). Many of her short stories that include grotesque characters are to reflect the condition of society. She often highlights the theme that is related to race, especially in her short stories of “The Geranium” and “The Judgment Day,” in which the characters are presented as displaced Southerners whose lives are to circumnavigate in Northern cities (Weinshilboum, 2009)
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