Research:the body/disability

I think I'd like to focus my paper on the function of the body in both O'Connor and Porter. In particular, I want to talk about the ways in which mental/physical disability is represented in "He" "The Violent Bear it Away" and "The Life you Save May be Your Own." I'm interested in how these stories present disabled persons as communicative blocks between non-disabled characters, as well as focal points for the attention/anxieties of family and community. In O'Connor's work I'm particularly interested in exploring the relationship between disability and sin/innocence, grace, and redemption.

As a balance/contrast I'd also like to examine the function of the "dying" body as presented in "The jilting of Granny weatherall" "The enduring chill" and "pale horse, Pale rider" in relation to the self and the healthy community. I know this is a bit vague but it makes perfect sense in my head... I'm thinking I'll use Julia Kristeva's theory of abjection to some extent, as in these stories it seems clear that handicapped persons are manifestations of the abject to their communities. For instance, in "He", the boy is seen as a mark of his families "low" status; his abjection infects those around him and so eventually he is sent away, the abject sent into the sewers. This is of course a repellant worldview to me but I think it exists in these stories. I've also found an article by Nicole Markotic from Disability Studies Quarterly called, "Re/presenting disability and illness: Foucault and Two 20th Century Fictions" that discusses Foucaults theories on institutionalized medicine, illness, and the body in relation to "Good Country People" It discusses the moral/social stigma on Joy/Hulga and her mother, though the argument is broad and easily applicable elsewhere I think.