"The River" and its Characters' Resemblance to Divinity
In "The River" by Flannery O'Connor, we follow the events of Harry Ashfield who is a young man with a deep faith. Faith and religion are two reoccurring themes throughout "The River" but what particularly interested me was the comparison O'Connor creates between her characters and religious/divine figures.
First, O'Connor finds a way to compare or parallel Mr. Connin to Jesus Christ. When we first meet Mr. Connin, Mrs. Connin introduces her mister from afar: "Bevel turned from
Mr. Connin to a colored picture over the bed of a man wearing a white sheet. He
had long hair and a gold circle around his head and he was sawing on a board
while some children stood watching him" (O'Connor 171). Here, O'Connor writes in such an ambiguous way that, initially, I was unsure if the description was of a stained glass portrait of Jesus or of Mr. Connin. I love how O'Connor described Mr. Connin so similarly to images of Jesus to represent that Mr. Connin is good.
Moreover, Mr. Paradise is compared to Satan in the story. In the following quote, we see why Mr. Paradise resembles the devil: "Then he heard a shout and turned his head
and saw something like a giant pig bounding after him, shaking a red and white
club and shouting" (O'Connor 184). His name is ironic because he continuously offers a false paradise. Nonetheless, the swine imagery shows his connection to the evil side of divinity. Furthermore, the final sentence of the story describes him in the water with Harry in a specific light: "Finally, far downstream, the old man rose like some ancient water monster and
stood empty-handed, staring with his dull eyes as far down the river line as he
could see" (O'Connor 185). These two quotes represent how Mr. Paradise is more like Mr. Diablo.
Additionally, Harry Ashfield resembles Adam because he was tempted to go back to the river. According to ChristianBibleReference, "God planted a beautiful garden, the Garden of Eden. It had beautiful trees with delicious fruit - everything a person would need to eat. Right in the middle of the garden were the 'tree of life' and the 'tree of the knowledge of good and evil'" (ChristianBibleReference 1). When Harry walks into the water, it is almost like how Adam was in a river neck-high. Also, Adam walked for days in search of food and Harry Ashfield walked back to the river to remove pain. Both were in search of something worth great importance to them, but ultimately get tricked by a serpent.
All in all, "The River" was honestly one of my top three O'Connor stories from this semester. I love how O'Connor weaves all these biblical connections in with her characters and how she made the setting mesh well with those characters and characters of divinity.
Works Cited
O'Connor, Flannery. "The River." The Complete Stories of Flannery O'Connor, Giroux, Robert, 1971, pp. 168-185. https://www.pothe.org/documents/2017/1/The-Complete-Stories-Flannery-OConnor.pdf%2012,%20Feb,%202023
Adam and Eve, https://www.christianbiblereference.org/story_AdamAndEve.htm.
Bobby,
ReplyDeleteI also really liked this story and found the biblical references very interesting! It was very ironic that a character named Mr. Connin would represent goodness, while Mr. Paradise would represent evil. In Mr. Connin's name, one can find the word "con" which means "an instance of deceiving or tricking someone." The Connin's, however, are kind and accepting of Bevel, and whether or not the reader considers this helpful, they also take him to the preacher to try and heal his mother. Mr. Paradise obviously has the word "paradise" in it which refers to "an ideal or idyllic place or state." Like you said, though, he is far from idyllic and is referred to as a "monster." O'Connor's use of irony here is very subtle yet very effective!
I felt the same way about Mr. Connin's picture when I first read the story! It's interesting that Mr. Connin is never physically present in the story, but his belonging in the house is honored and his presence can be felt there, especially by the faithful Mrs. Connin. This makes him seem like even more of a Christ figure. On another note, I like how you drew a connection between Harry/Bevel and Adam. Not only is Bevel faced with temptation throughout the story, but in a sense he gains the knowledge of good and evil when he leaves his home where "everything is a joke." Bevel could be compared to many other Biblical figures as well; there are slews of people who leave behind their old lives to follow Jesus, some even taking on new names and identities in the process.
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