The Artificial Nigger (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Flannery O’Connor
- First Published: 1955
- Type of Plot: Psychological
- Time of Work: Probably the 1940's or 1950's
- Setting: Atlanta, Georgia
- Principal Characters: Mr. Head, Nelson
- Genres: Psychological fiction
- Subjects: African Americans
- Locales: Atlanta, GA
The Story
Flannery O’Connor's own favorite among her stories, “The Artificial Nigger” is really two stories in one: the saga of Nelson's initiation into the world of experience and the tale of Mr. Head's fall from righteousness to emptiness. The two journeys parallel each other, just as the railroad tracks, which play an important part in this story, parallel each other; unlike the tracks, however, which never intersect, Mr. Head's and Nelson's journeys coalesce in their shared visions of the mysterious statue that provides the title of the story.
In the opening...
[The entire page is 1479 words long]
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