Geraniums/Judgement Day

Looking up these stories online, I read that O'Connor intended Judgement Day (1965) as a direct rewrite of Geraniums (1947); she had already rewritten this story, and published the results, twice. I think it is fascinating that a writer could find so much interest in the same scenario over a period of years. Maybe she saw a depth in this character that could not be conveyed by a single expression.

Anyways, I think she succeeds in that both of these stories have distinct differences in tone and, to a certain extent, characterization. I feel Old Dudley is a bit more sympathetic than Tanner: though both men seem to consider black people to be their "pets", Tanner's quasi mastership of Coleman is more grotesquely inhuman, as shown in the reference to Coleman being "curled up...at the foot of Tanner's bed, a stinking skin full of bones, arranged in what seemed vaguely human form." (p. 679) Though Tanner is a poor squatter himself, he still dominates his black companion through some influence that isn't really shown. Tanner's relationship with Coleman hinges on his expectation that all black people should/will show white people deference, because if they do not he or someone else may punish them with impunity. In fact, that is why the two men initially meet: Coleman is sleeping near Tanner's job site one day, and Tanner, who attempts to run Coleman off, seems ready to violently hurt Coleman if he finds it necessary. At no point during this does Tanner seem worried about any personal consequences to his maiming/killing Coleman, because at that time in that place a white person could rarely be brought to justice for harming an African American.

I found Old Dudley more human (which I guess just means likable) because he seemed less vitriolic and just generally softer: his fixation with geraniums, his make-believe gun on the stairs, and his weeping, which ends the story. O'Connor shows both Tanner and Old Dudley crying, revealing the depth of their fragility and desperation, but her lingering on Dudley's weeping and the broken flower pot at the end of Geraniums makes me think she intended the reader to feel more for this man's condition than Tanner's.

In terms of tone, Judgement Day (written in a time of greater social unrest than the late 40's), is by far the darker, more pessimistic for its violence/macabre, as well as the racial interaction it displays. There is no real violence in Geraniums other than the breaking of the pot and the neighbors threat at the end; in Judgement Day there is one act of near violence with a knife to Coleman and two acts of serious violence done to Tanner. The epiphanic moment of contact in both stories, when the old men encounter their black neighbors, is socially optimistic in Geraniums: a black man helps a white man up the stairs. Though Old Dudley still reacts in a racist manner, no violence occurs and it is a rather benign encounter for one party, at least. In Judgement Day, Tanner is aggressive in his confrontation with the neighbor and the neighbor is aggressive in his response. This seems appropriately cynical for a time of notorious racial violence and upheaval. In Judgement Day, it seems no one will ever get along.

Another interesting aspect of these stories is the portrayal of Northern racism. Yes, Old Dudley and Tanner hold disgusting and hurtful views on race, but so too do their daughters "up north." Both daughters, and their husbands, are just as hateful, perhaps more so in that they practice a strict social separation between themselves and others, though they live in the unsegregated North. I believe O'Connor is trying to point out that racism is not a solely southern problem; the North is just as racist, but hides that fact behind a facade of gentility. Once again, I found the earlier version more optimistic in this regard.