The Artificial Nigger

W.F. Monroe, in the article "Flannery O'Connor's Sacrament Icon: The Artificial Nigger," argues that the intentional, and emotionally charged use of the term "nigger," "may be read as linking, in the character of Mr. Head, two seemingly disparate attitudes, two philosophies of life which are surprisingly similar in their mutual dependence on propositional truth." In effect, Monroe argues that this story "critiques the propositional and abstract propensities of both secular rationalism and iconoclastic Christian Fundamentalism." As O'Connor is rarely didactic in her writing, rather, she wishes her readers to experience something, the subject of her writing, in order to learn, she veers away from placing any rhetorical restrictions on the term "nigger." As such, the narrator of this story avoids the use of the term "nigger," although the two Heads use this word very frequently.

Another interesting point Monroe makes is as follows: Mr Head. states to his grandson, "The day is going to come...when you'll find you ain't as smart as you think you are." Monroe, in response to this statement says, "From our superior vantage point, that day should also come for Mr. Head, a day when his reasonableness will be recognized for what it is, pernicious racism..." In effect, Monroe argues that this day comes when Mr. Head stares in awe of the statue of the African-American boy. Monroe states, "As a means of revelation, the artificial Negro is both precise and appropriate. The two Heads...have been contending throughout the story, jockeying for position, attempting to attain a clear superiority, one over the other. Mr. Head has demonstrated his superior knowledge and scored his most telling points by stigmatizing blacks...To see himself as what he would call a "nigger," then, is a most dramatically effective way for O'Connor to demonstrate Mr. Head's beneficial humiliation, his recognition of his own radical insufficiency." (Monroe 70).

Works Cited

Flannery O'Connor's Sacramental Icon: "The Artificial Nigger"
W. F. Monroe
South Central Review, Vol. 1, No. 4 (Winter, 1984), pp. 64-81
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press on behalf of The South Central Modern Language Association