Thursday, November 20, 2008
Identity and Naming
We talked a little bit about Bevel's name change the last time, but I wanted to look more closely at it. O'Connor seems to give her characters names that either fit their personality or their physical description and usually have some humor behind it. We haven't gone too much into depth about naming, but how does Bevel's name change effect his identity, or does it at all? Maybe he would be a good character to look at at how names in O'Connor stories give characters an identity.
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2 comments:
Yes, Meagan, I agree. Especially after reading stories about Manly Pointers and such, I think we do need to place more emphasis on the name here.
The only association I can think of is to beveled glass, which contains an angled edge. Are there any other connections I may be missing?
I know this is a stretch, but the other thing that is coming to mind is that Bevel rhymes with devil. I do not think this speaks to the little boy at all, but perhaps this could speak to the healer. It may be a comment on what O'Connor, the Catholic, thinks of the charletan Protestant faith healers.
I also think the names in Porter's and O'Connor's stories deserve closer attention. I think bevel is also a construction term that is used to describe two pieces of wood that come together to form an angle. Is this related to carpentering and Jesus? That may be a stretch. I also found this definition online that I found interesting and that might be applied, "Having the slant of a bevel; slanting. Hence: morally distorted; not upright." (http://www.encyclo.co.uk/webster/B/44) Is it possible that this is the definition that O'Connor wanted us to associate with Bevel's name? This seems like such a harsh definition for a boy that does not seem to be morally distorted. I also looked up the meaning of Harry, Bevel's real name, and found that it means "Home ruler" (http://babynamesworld.parentsconnect.com/meaning_of_Harry.html). I think this is very interesting considering the scene when he wakes up and is the only one in the house and is eating whatever he wants and doing whatever he wants. I am not sure how much help these two meanings are, but I think that both are interesting to consider when associated with this story.
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