Whoa. Once again we get quite an interesting O'Connor scene. I also thought the stranger scene was very intriguing, and I also wanted to post on the theme of driving away that occurs in this story twice and also in some of her other stories. I mentioned this in one of my other posts, but I thought I would comment more on it, because it ties in with the other posts and with the scene with the stranger.
In the first car scene, Tarwater gets in the car with a stranger, and starts to drive away. Then in the later scene, Tarwater gets in a car with a stranger, and starts to drive away. I think it is interesting how these two scenes are similar, but yet totally different. The thing I wanted to focus on with these two scenes (and in other stories) is how the characters think they are driving far away, and in a sense driving away from their troubles, but then they just end up in the same place, or in a way worse place (from the frying pan into the fire). I think the characters think that they are in a sense leaving it all behind and starting over, but in reality they are not.
I think this could also tie in with what other people have been commenting on in class and on this blog about the transition between rural and city areas. In a lot of ways they are transitioning between rural and city values and traditions, but in a lot of ways, things do not really improve when they go from place to place, so we never really get a sense of what is considered better. They are just different from one another.
Also, I was interested to find out what other people thought about the very, very last scene in the last paragraph. I hate to sound dense, but what was going on in this paragraph?
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Interesting point with the cars. They do seem to have some significance, but what?
I feel like they might be mile markers. We can gauge Tarwater's transformation in these trips.
His first trip, he seems to be a confused, troubled child, but not beyond redemption. He's going to the schoolteacher's, but really doesn't have a plan. There's the possibility that he will find a better life and overcome his upbringing.
His trip back to the woods, his transformation is near complete, and there is little, if any, hope that he is going to turn his life around. He seems committed to a path that is inevitable.
In his final trip to the city, though I don't believe it's in a car, he is on a mission, and we see Tarwater's vision realized. He has been called. He has renounced both his upbringing and his life in the city.
It's interesting to see this evolution through the device of travel.
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