I also wanted to comment on the "tortured artist" in The Enduring Chill. I think it is amusing how O'Connor seems to poke fun at the tortured artist in this story ("The artist arrives at the gas chamber" 553), and also how she pokes fun of writing. For instance, "She knew that if he would get in there now, or get out and fix fences, or do any kin of work-real work, not writing-that he might avoid this nervous breakdown" (551). This sentence is very interesting to me. We have talked about the tortured artist and Hemingway in class, and I think this story goes along with that. This story was actually kind of humorous to me (is that a horrible thing to say) because Asbury was so overly dramatic. Anything that happened was just the end of the world to him.
I also think it is interesting how the adult children in a lot of the stories we have been reading (Revelation, Good Country People) are all very well educated (over educated according to Asbury's mother) and yet they act horrible. They act like they are right all the time, they treat their parents with little respect, they are whiny and they act like they are God's gift to the world. I think it is interesting how O'Connor brings these characters down a peg and has them be wrong some of the time.
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I like your comment on the “whiny” adult children. I think this theme rings true with a lot of people. I think it is especially hard to connect with one’s parents when the young adult leaves home to learn about a culture that is drastically different. It is easy for young adults to have such stern criticisms about traditions or ideological differences when they start to identify with another lifestyle. Also, it is tempting for adult children to blame their parents when they have trouble succeeding in life. Asbury blames his mother for his failure- his inability to be a recognized artist, just as many adult children blame their parents for not making them do some activity or being too harsh or easy with them. However, I did get a little frustrated with the mother for coddling her son so much- I think Morgan made a good point that “’She ain’t whup him enough when he was little’” (370).
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