O'Connor, "The Displaced Person"

"'He didn't have to come in the first place,' she repeated, emphasizing each word.
The old man smiled absently. 'He came to redeem us,' he said and blandly reached for her hand and shook it and said he must go" (O'Connor 239-240).
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/KaitlinMonier/2008/03/the_poles_crucifixion.html

Read this! http://blogs.setonhill.edu/AngelaPalumbo/2008/03/oconnoryou_son_of_acarpenter_s.html

"She said getting him was the best day's work she had ever done in her life" (The Displaced person)

"She began to understand that she had a moral obligation to fire the Pole and that she was shirking it because she found it hard to do" (O'Connor 249).

You have a moral obligation to visit my blog:
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/LaurenMiller/2008/03/moral_obligations_and_todays_s.html

“Mr. Shortley recalled a newsreel she had seen once of a small room piled high with bodies of dead naked people all in a heap, their arms and legs tangled together, a head thrust in here, a head there, a foot, a knee, a part that should have been covered up sticking out, a hand raised clutching nothings. Before you could realize that it was real and take it into your head, the picture changed and a hollow-sounding voice was saying, “Time marches on!” This was the kind of thing that was happening every day in Europe where they had not advanced as in this country, and watching from her vantage point, Mrs. Shortley had the sudden intuition that the Gobblehooks, like rats with typhoid fleas, could have carried all those murderous ways over the water with them directly to this place (O‘Connor 198).”

STOP GENOCIDE AND TAKE A STAND BY VIEWING THIS:
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/StephanieWytovich/2008/03/arent_we_all_displaced_persons.html

“’Well,’ Mr. Shortley said, ‘if I was going to travel again, it would be to either China of Africa. You go to either of them two places and you can tell right away what the difference is between you and them. You go to these other places and the only way you can tell is if they say something. And then you can’t always tell because about half of them know the English language. That’s where we make our mistake,’ he said, ‘—learning all them people onto English. There’d be a heap less trouble if everybody only knew his own language. My wife said knowing two languages was like having eyes in the back of your head. You couldn’t put nothing over on her’” (O’Connor 248).
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/GretaCarroll/2008/03/the_displaced_person_does_some.html

Welcome back from break, everyone. It was great to see the posts from those who were so on the ball during break. I'm looking forward to a great discussion tomorrow. I considered bumping this story up in time to coincide with the English Club and STAND's anti-genocide event, but I thought we still needed a bit more time to get acclimated with O'Connor, and I think the extra time has really laid a good groundwork for what promises to be a powerful discussion.

"Not many people remembered to come out to the country to see her except the old priest. He came regularly once a week with a bag of breadcrumbs and, after he had fed these to the peacock, he would come in and sit by the side of her bed and explain the doctrines of the Church." (O'Connor, 252)

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MadelynGillespie/2008/03/what_a_way_to_go.html

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/AndreaNestler/2008/03/the_displaced_person.html

"She heard the break on the laege tractor slip...and that she had started to shout to the Displaced Person but that she had not" (O'Connor 250).

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/JulianaCox/2008/03/mrs_mcintyres_actions_or_lack.html

“ ‘I heard her say, “This is going to put the Fear of the Lord into those shiftless niggers!”’Mrs. Shortley said in a ringing tone” (O’Connor 204).

By now we have all figured out that Flannery O’Connor uses Biblical allusions to support the overall message of her stories. So I thought I’d try my hand at some Biblically inspired interpretation.

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/JeanineONeal/2008/03/the_coming_of_christ.html

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/TiffanyGilbert/2008/03/i_always_get_the_last_word.html

"Mrs. Shortley had the sudden intuition that the Gobblehooks, like rats with typhoid fleas, could have carried all those murderous ways over the water with them directly to this place." (O‘Connor 198)

“Her look first grazed the tops of the displaced people’s heads and then revolved downwards slowly.” (The Displaced Person p 200)

"Why all the references to peacocks and the colors of peacocks?" These references are obvious even on a brief perusal of the text. Here is just one example of the references to peacocks: "The peacock stopped just behind her, his tail--glittering green-gold and blue in the sunlight--lifted just enough so that it would not touch the ground" (O'Connor 196)
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/EricaGearhart/2008/03/flannery_oconnors_short_story.html

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/AllisonHall/2008/03/survivor.html

"'Times are changing,' she said 'Do you know what's happening to this world? It's swelling up. It's getting so full of people that only the smart thrifty energetic ones are going to survive'," (O'Connor, The Displaced Person, pg 226)

Aww what a pretty birdie....ahhh....no stop that!!

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/DeanaKubat/2008/03/id_be_freaking_out.html

I hate xenophobia.
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/JessieFarine/2008/03/them_backwards_europeans_makin.html