Form and Content

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Wise Blood chronicles the last few months of Hazel Motes’s life, beginning with his leaving the army and moving to the city and ending with his death there. His pilgrimage dramatizes his attempt to disprove the religion of his grandfather, an itinerant backwoods preacher. Two images—one of his grandfather preaching from the hood of his old car and another of a ragged Christ who stalks him from behind trees—have haunted him so thoroughly that Hazel feels compelled to test God.

From the beginning of the novel, Hazel concentrates on making a sort of antireligious testimony to anyone who will listen. He startles two women on the train to Taulkinham by suddenly announcing that he has no use for salvation. In a similar negative testimony, he spends his first few nights in the city with a prostitute, Leora Watts. Ironically, like the cab driver who took Hazel to Mrs. Watts’s house, Leora Watts recognizes immediately that Hazel is driven by religion, although she supposes that he is some sort of preacher.

It is Jesus whom Hazel most wants to escape, and thus, moved partly by the sight of the false preacher Asa Hawks, Hazel creates the Church Without Christ. He believes that his church will demonstrate the truth of his belief that Jesus is only a trick. For the same reason, Hazel buys a car, an ancient, rat-colored Essex. His claim that a man with a good car has no need of salvation is a sort of parody of all the slogans of the secular world. The more he tries to escape his grandfather’s vision of the purpose of life, however, the more he seems to imitate it, so that even Asa Hawks can say, in his not-quite-blindness, that a preacher has marked Hazel.

This portion of Hazel’s journal culminates in his experiences with Enoch Emery. Like the others, Enoch recognizes Hazel as a marked man almost from the moment they meet on the streets of Taulkinham. Early on, Enoch’s loneliness leads him to entice Hazel into a place of mystery and power—the city museum. Together, they gaze into a glass case at the tiny mummified man that has enthralled Enoch. Thus, it is no surprise when, after elaborate and ritualistic preparations, Enoch steals the mummy and presents it to Hazel as the “new jesus.”

Hazel finds the mummy in his room, cradled in the arms of Sabbath Lily, a parodic madonna and child. Rejecting the whole picture, Hazel smashes the mummy against the wall; the new jesus is worthless, filled with trash.

Soon afterward, Hazel has an even more powerful crisis. He murders the man whom Hoover Shoates hired to imitate him, Solace Layfield, the “True Prophet,” by driving over him in his car. As Hazel leaves the city, intent on starting the Church Without Christ in some other place that is more receptive to it, a policeman stops him for a traffic violation and pushes his unlicensed car over a cliff.

Hazel returns to his rooming house and lives through part of the winter in an agony of self-flagellation. He binds his chest with barbed wire, puts stones in his shoes, and eventually blinds himself. At last, after staggering blindly through the winter streets, feverish with pneumonia, he dies in a ditch. After his death, his landlady, Mrs. Flood, looks at him intently, for she seems to see in his face an indication that he has followed pinpoints of light that suggest the star of Bethlehem.

Places Discussed

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Taulkinham

Taulkinham. Imaginary Alabama city that is the setting for most of the action of

(This entire section contains 601 words.)

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Taulkinham. Imaginary Alabama city that is the setting for most of the action ofWise Blood; loosely modeled on Birmingham, Alabama. Hazel Motes decides to go to Taulkinham when he discovers, after leaving the Army, that none of his family remains in the family home in Eastrod, Tennessee. Taulkinham is filled with characters and locations that are rooted in the 1930’s and 1940’s. Its street preachers, movie promotions, car salesmen, prostitutes, and bumpkins can be found in any time or place, but Flannery O’Connor gives these a southern flavor.

Hazel’s first evening in Taulkinham offers a good example of O’Connor’s use of the city. As Hazel walks through the garish streets of the commercial district, O’Connor paints a picture of shoddy cheapness in direct contrast to the sky full of stars, which suggests the majestic beauty of God. Not surprisingly, the people of Taulkinham are ignoring the sky in favor of watching a man selling potato peelers.

The settings of Taulkinham—the prostitute Leora Watts’s house; Hazel’s rented room; Enoch Emery’s room, in which even the pictures make him feel guilty; the used car lot; and the street corners on which Hazel preaches his depressing message of meaninglessness—all suggest the emptiness of Hazel’s own vision (a vision that changes when his faith returns after he blinds himself).

A location of particular interest in the city is the museum from which Enoch Emery steals a mummy. The museum is a classical building and carved into its face is the Latin-styled inscription in which the letter u is replaced with v—MVSEVM. Enoch finds the word terrifying (he pronounces it muvseevum) and can hardly bring himself to say it aloud, as if it were a sacred word. Appropriately enough, Enoch believes that the mummy he has stolen from such a holy place is the “new jesus,” and he tries to persuade Hazel of its power.

O’Connor wrote as a committed Catholic surrounded by southern Protestantism, and as such she wanted to make her fiction represent those moments in which God’s grace touches human souls. However, she also wanted to write about the world she and her readers knew. The result was her representation of places like Taulkinham, the secular city and its inhabitants. Although some readers have called O’Connor’s people grotesques, she claimed they were simply realistic pictures of a world where people are more quickly drawn to street hawkers and fraudulent preachers than to matters of true faith. It is not surprising that when Hazel’s landlady realizes he has wound barbed wire around his chest, evidently in penance, she tells him no one does such things any more, “like boiling in oil or being a saint or walling up cats.”

Eastrod

Eastrod. Tennessee crossroads community in which Hazel Motes’s family once lived. Hazel returns to Eastrod (which once was home to twenty-five people) when he gets out of the Army only to discover that both the town and his family’s house have been abandoned. The general store is boarded up, the barn is in collapse, and Hazel’s house is reduced to a “skeleton” and empty of everything but an old chifforobe (a combination dresser and wardrobe) his mother had once bought for thirty dollars. Later, on the train, Hazel dreams of the chifforobe, blending it with his mother’s coffin in his dream. It is on this train that Hazel announces his loss of faith and his abandonment of his youthful plan to return to Eastrod and become a preacher like his grandfather.

Context

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Flannery O’Connor’s reputation has rested on her significance as a Southern writer who dealt with religious themes, a recognition she herself would probably have found more than satisfactory. As her various nonfiction writings make clear (especially the collection Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose, 1969), O’Connor was very seriously interested in the craft of fiction and in using that craft to communicate her religious vision. She was emphatic in arguing that in everything she wrote there was a moment of grace in which a character somehow had a chance to recognize divine love.

To express those themes, O’Connor drew on the rural South and its people and their religion. That was the world she knew best, having lived almost her whole life in it. Indeed, after 1950, when she was diagnosed with lupus, traveling from her home in Milledgeville, Georgia, became increasingly difficult for her. As her many letters make clear, however, the inhabitants of her world were a rich source of interest and amusement to her, and she seems never to have felt any lack of richer experience. She took special delight in their language, and often represented rural white speech in her fiction and imitated it in her letters.

O’Connor lived in a world that was on the edge of great social change, particularly regarding civil rights, but she remained uninterested in social issues. In fact, sociologists (and psychologists) are frequently the objects of her satire. Although she was not unsympathetic to the plight of the disenfranchised, she argued that no white person could know enough about the black experience to write meaningfully about it. Black characters move through her fiction like shadows; her central characters are all white.

She was also not particularly interested in women’s issues, although she created many female characters—some of them modeled on the rural women, both poor and middle-class, who surrounded her; some of them lumpishly intellectual and scornful of the limited world of their sisters. O’Connor satirized them both. To her, social issues were subordinate to more important themes, and her pictures of the world usually laugh at the superficiality of its allures. O’Connor was never very successful in describing romantic or sexual relationships between men and women, and she was not very interested in those themes.

O’Connor’s best contribution to American fiction, however, was her combination of the comedic and the serious, a combining that was quite in keeping with her intense belief in the saving power of divine love.

Historical Context

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Michael Kreyling, in the introduction to New Essays on Wise Blood, notes that O'Connor's focus on religious themes gives her writing a timeless quality. He also points out that "the historical context of O'Connor's work has been the least-explored critical territory." Although O'Connor sets the events of Wise Blood in Taulkinham, Tennessee, she does not provide specific dates. However, based on the events in the story and the period when O'Connor wrote it, critics place the story in the mid-twentieth century. One key detail supporting this timeline is Motes's reflection on his military service and the war injury that sent him home. Given that O'Connor wrote the book in the late 1940s and it was published by Harcourt in 1952, Motes likely served in World War II. Thus, the events in the story probably occur in the latter half of the 1940s.

Post-World War II Growth and Prosperity
After World War II, Americans experienced a surge in population growth and prosperity. By 1950, the population exceeded 151 million, and many innovations emerged to make life easier, safer, and more enjoyable. For instance, technological advancements led to the creation of microwave ovens and fast foods, providing Americans with more free time. Medical breakthroughs like polio and measles vaccinations, along with the birth-control pill, allowed children to live longer and couples to better plan their families. With more time and better health, people found new ways to enjoy their leisure. The rise of commercial hotel chains, jet transport, modern turnpikes, and faster cars contributed to increased travel in the 1950s. Americans developed a strong passion for automobiles and the conveniences they offered.

O'Connor uses America's obsession with prosperity and its infatuation with cars to illustrate the spiritual turmoil experienced by the characters in Wise Blood. In The Living Novel: A Symposium, O'Connor asserts that "unparalleled prosperity" leads to a "distorted sense of spiritual purpose." Wise Blood elaborates on this theme more than any of her other works. Throughout the novel, O'Connor presents motifs and images depicting a prosperous society. Money is paramount: Mrs. Hitchcock checks the price tag on Motes's coat; street vendors and used-car salesmen argue over prices; and fake preachers boast about their salaries. Additionally, commercial advertising dominates the landscape with signs on buildings, billboards along the roads, and business establishments. The characters in the novel are so focused on monetary issues and prosperity that their spirituality vanishes and their morals decay.

Religion
Religion captivated many Americans during the 1950s. Church membership surged to 63.6 percent of the population, and religious contributions, media coverage, films, and books saw significant growth. For instance, average annual church donations reached their highest levels, and biblical movies like The Robe attracted large audiences. Ministers who delivered modern, positive messages drew thousands who equated religious affiliation with American identity. Even political campaigns praised the virtues of religion. Politicians approved the inclusion of "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance and adopted "In God We Trust" as the national motto. However, some religious critics questioned whether this widespread acceptance of religion was genuine or merely a symbol of status and prosperity.

Hazel Motes rejects religion as fervently as people in the 1950s embraced it. M. J. Fitzgerald notes in the Reference Guide to American Literature that the "mystery of the impulse towards holiness … and the destructiveness of that impulse when carried to extremes" is central to Wise Blood. Motes's violent actions suggest extremism, paralleling the seemingly uncritical acceptance of religion by Americans in the 1950s. O'Connor highlights the connection between the novel and real life with images of a prosperous society and individuals who lack spiritual purpose because of it.

Literary Style

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Point of View
Until Mrs. Flood appears at the conclusion of the book, Flannery O'Connor narrates Wise Blood from an omniscient perspective, allowing the narrator to delve into the minds of all the characters and share their thoughts. For instance, O'Connor reveals that Emery secretly believes the waitress at the Frosty Bottle is in love with him. However, towards the end of the novel, O'Connor shifts to a limited omniscient viewpoint, with Mrs. Flood narrating the story. This transition occurs in Chapter 14, where Mrs. Flood reflects on her relationship with Motes. In this part, O'Connor shows Motes's actions and dialogue but does not disclose his thoughts.

Setting
The events in Wise Blood unfold in Taulkinham, a small town in Tennessee. Although the author does not specify the historical period, critics generally agree that the story is set in the mid-twentieth century.

SymbolismWise Blood is rich with symbolic imagery that illustrates Motes's rejection of Christ. Initially, the reader encounters symbols of material success linked to Enoch Emery and Hazel Motes. Emery aspires to "become something" and views the zoo, park, pool, museum, and theater as amenities enjoyed by successful people. Motes considers his car, a modern luxury, as evidence of his success in repudiating his religious upbringing: "Nobody with a good car needs to be justified," he asserts.

Beyond symbols of material wealth, literary critics have identified symbolic meanings in the characters' actions. Motes's abandonment of Sabbath Lily and his discarding of the new Jesus and his mother's glasses represent his early attempts to sever ties with his religious past. Additionally, the act of killing his "twin," Layfield, symbolizes Motes's effort to eliminate another aspect of his conscience. Motes's final symbolic rejection of Christ occurs when he blinds himself.

Grotesque
O'Connor depicts her characters as grotesque, or bizarre, both in appearance and behavior. While critics debate the reasons behind O'Connor's use of grotesque characterization in Wise Blood, Marshall Bruce Gentry offers an intriguing perspective in an article for Modern Fiction Studies. He posits that the characters' grotesqueness, often viewed negatively as a sign of their helplessness and individuality in an indifferent society, might also highlight the positive traits that enable them to reconnect with a community they feel akin to. In "Mystery and Manners," O'Connor remarks that her characters "have an inner coherence, if not always a coherence to their social framework. Their fictional qualities lean away from typical social patterns, toward mystery and the unexpected." Gentry argues that while readers might perceive Motes's actions as fundamentally evil, those actions actually arise from an inner commitment to a belief system that ultimately leads him to salvation or a reconnection with his religious past.

Imagery
Critics widely acknowledge that the characters in Wise Blood display animalistic traits. Their names and appearances not only hint at animals, but their behaviors also mimic those of creatures. For instance, Daniel Littlefield, Jr., mentions in Mississippi Quarterly that Hawks's name is reminiscent of a bird of prey, and he abandons his daughter much like a bird might push its young out of the nest. Littlefield further observes that several animalistic elements are associated with Emery, who is described as resembling a mangy hound dog. Like a dog, he crawls on his belly and hides under bushes to spy on a woman at the pool, even "becoming" a gorilla at one point. Literary scholars suggest that O'Connor employs these animal images to highlight the characters' grotesque nature and their warped spirituality.

Doppelganger
O'Connor introduces Solace Layfield as Motes's doppelganger to symbolize a facet of Motes's inner self. The term "doppelganger" refers to a ghostly twin or counterpart. Layfield bears such a striking resemblance to Motes that a woman in the book asks, "Him and you twins?"

FlashbackWise Blood features two significant flashbacks. The first occurs when Motes is on a train, dreaming about his grandfather. He envisions his grandfather preaching from the hood of a car and using Motes as a cautionary example for sinners. The second flashback is triggered by Motes's night with Mrs. Watts. He recalls attending a carnival at the age of ten, seeing a naked woman, and being punished by his mother for it. These flashbacks illustrate Motes's strict upbringing and troubled childhood.

Literary Techniques

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This unique novel not only earned O'Connor the Rinehart-Iowa prize for a debut novel but also led her to completely sever ties with the publisher Rinehart. Her editor, John Selby, showed no understanding or sympathy for her vision and the essence of the novel; he may not have grasped it at all. He wrote to her, describing her as a "straight shooter," a term she found particularly misguided, and requested clarification on nearly everything. O'Connor expressed her frustration to her agent, Elizabeth McKee, writing, "Please tell me what is under this Sears Roebuck Straight Shooter approach... The criticism is vague and really tells me nothing except that they don't like it... the thought of working with them specifically to correct these lacks they mention is repulsive to me." She resolutely told Selby, "I am not writing a conventional novel, and I believe the quality of my work will stem precisely from the peculiarity or solitude, if you will, of the experience I write from... I am open to criticism but only within the scope of what I am trying to achieve."

O'Connor employs comic irony throughout nearly every aspect of the novel, a technique she would continue to use throughout her career. She also showcases her characteristic fondness for the grotesque and macabre, evident in the blinding, the extremity of Hazel's actions and beliefs, the theft of the mummy, and Hazel's death in a squad car. The portrayal of a spiritual dilemma in vivid and straightforward terms likely ties this work most closely with the rest of O'Connor's fiction. This approach may also alienate readers who prefer not to engage with spiritual problems; the prevailing belief is that all issues are psychological and should be addressed rationally. As the landlady remarks about the barbed wire, " . . . it's something people have quit doing — like boiling in oil or being a saint or walling up cats. There's no reason for it. People have quit doing it." Hazel's retort mirrors O'Connor's own defense of her orthodoxy — "They ain't quit doing it as long as I'm doing it."

Compare and Contrast

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  • Late 1930s and 1940s: Struggling with the Great Depression's impact, Americans were cautious with their finances.

    1950s: Americans became enthusiastic shoppers, spending increasingly on new products brought about by technological advancements.

    Today: With the rise of online and TV shopping services, along with the widespread presence of shopping malls (which started in the 1950s), and a robust economy, consumerism plays a significant role in American life.

  • Late 1930s and 1940s: Population growth was nearly stagnant; people were hesitant to have children they couldn't support.

    1950s: The U.S. experienced a baby boom due to a stronger economy, as many believed that a larger population would bolster economic growth.

    Today: The Baby Boomer generation is aging, leading to heightened concerns about healthcare, while much of the population growth is now driven by new immigrants from Asia, Mexico, and the Middle East.

  • Late 1930s and 1940s: Cars were seen as practical tools for transportation.

    1950s: Americans developed a deep affection for automobiles. They had access to faster, more stylish cars, improved roads, and better services, making cars symbols of prosperity and luxury.

    Today: Cars remain a vital part of American culture and a major status symbol. People are often identified by whether they drive a minivan, SUV, or compact car. Rising costs due to safety regulations have led to an increase in used car sales.

  • Late 1930s and 1940s: Attending church was a routine activity, dominated by the Protestant ethic.

    1950s: A religious revival occurred, with church membership reaching an all-time high, and the Catholic Church becoming a significant American institution.

    Today: Many people are distancing themselves from traditional churches like the Catholic Church, causing concern among religious leaders about declining memberships. Those who still attend church are increasingly joining nondenominational congregations that focus as much—or more—on social issues as on religion.

Literary Precedents

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Flannery O'Connor was an avid reader, as evidenced by her extensive library and numerous literary references in her correspondence. This makes it challenging to identify just one or two primary influences on her work. She frequently mentioned that Edgar Allan Poe often came to mind, and she also enjoyed reading many other short story writers and novelists from the past century. While her Catholic orthodoxy is likely the most significant influence on her thinking, she is most commonly classified by her technique as a Southern Gothic author.

Her ironic perspective, use of vernacular dialogue, Southern settings, and fascination with the grotesque show influences ranging from Mark Twain to William Faulkner to Truman Capote. However, the work most frequently cited as having influenced Wise Blood is Nathanael West's short yet intense novel Miss Lonelyhearts (1933). This novel tells the story of a man who writes a newspaper column answering letters from troubled individuals and faces a significant spiritual crisis as a result. It's also certain that O'Connor had read Oedipus Rex shortly before writing her novel, and the concept of blinding as an act of penance is directly inspired from there.

Adaptations

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In 1979, John Huston directed a feature-length adaptation of Wise Blood. This film, produced by Michael Fitzgerald and scripted by Benedict Fitzgerald, was shot in Macon, Georgia, and remains highly faithful to the original novel. According to screenwriter Benedict Fitzgerald, Hazel's character had never before been portrayed on the American screen. His appeal lies in his intense nature and peculiar sense of purpose, offering a distinctive mission in life that many contemporary film heroes lack.

Filmed in black and white, the movie stars Brad Dourif as Hazel Motes, Daniel Shor as Enoch Emery, Ned Beatty as Hoover Shoats, Harry Dean Stanton as Asa Hawks, Amy Wright as Sabbath Lily Hawks, and Mary Nell Santacroce as Mrs. Flood, the landlady. Additional Fitzgerald family members involved in the production include Kathy Fitzgerald as co-producer and Sally Fitzgerald as the costumer.

Media Adaptations

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  • In 1979, Director John Huston brought Wise Blood to the big screen. Brad Dourif took on the role of Hazel Motes. The cast also featured Ned Beatty, Harry Dean Stanton, Dan Shor, and Amy Wright. The film, rated PG, is distributed by Universal Studios Home Video.

Bibliography and Further Reading

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Sources
Allen, William Rodney. "The Cage of Matter: The World as Zoo in Flannery O'Connor's 'Wise Blood.'" In American Literature, Vol. 58, No. 2, May 1986, pp. 256-70.

Bacon, Jon Lance. "A Fondness for Supermarkets: 'Wise Blood' and Consumer Culture." In New Essays onWise Blood, edited by Michael Kreyling. Cambridge University Press, 1995, pp. 25-49.

Bleikasten, Andre. "The Heresy of Flannery O'Connor." In Critical Essays on Flannery O'Connor, edited by Melvin J. Friedman and Beverly Lyon Clark. G. K. Hall, 1985, pp. 138-58.

Brinkmeyer, Robert H., Jr. "'Jesus, Stab Me in the Heart': Wise Blood, Wounding, and Sacramental Aesthetics." In New Essays onWise Blood, edited by Michael Kreyling. Cambridge University Press, 1995, pp. 71-89.

Donahoo, Robert. "The Problem with Peelers: 'Wise Blood' as Social Criticism." In Flannery O'Connor Bulletin, Vol. 21, 1992, pp. 43-57.

Feeley, Margaret Peller. "Flannery O'Connor's 'Wise Blood': The Negative Way." In Southern Quarterly, Vol. 17, No. 2, 1979, pp. 104-22.

Fitzgerald, M. J. Review in Reference Guide to American Literature, 3rd edition. St. James Press, 1994, p. 1058.

Fitzgerald, Sally. "Introduction to 'Three by Flannery O'Connor.'" In Three by Flannery O'Connor. Signet Classic, 1983, pp. vii-xxxiv.

Gentry, Marshall. "The Eye vs. the Body: Individual and Communal Grotesqueness in Wise Blood." In Modern Fiction Studies, Vol. 28, No. 3, Autumn 1982, pp. 487-93.

Gordon, Caroline. "Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood." In Critique, Vol. 2, 1958, pp. 3-10.

Kreyling, Michael. "Introduction." In New Essays on Wise Blood, edited by Michael Kreyling. Cambridge University Press, 1995, p. 21.

Lawson, Lewis. "Flannery O'Connor and the Grotesque: Wise Blood." In Flannery O'Connor. B. Herder Books, c. 1968, p. 52.

Littlefield, Daniel. "Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood: 'Unparalleled Prosperity' and Spiritual Chaos." In Mississippi Quarterly, Vol. 23, No. 2, Spring 1970, p. 122.

Nielsen, Erik. "The Hidden Structure of Wise Blood." In New Orleans Review, Vol. 19, Nos. 3 & 4, Fall & Winter 1992, pp. 91-97.

O'Connor, Flannery. "The Fiction Writer and His Country." In The Living Novel: A Symposium, edited by Granville Hicks. Macmillan, 1957, pp. 161-63.

———. Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose, edited by Sally and Robert Fitzgerald. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1979, pp. 43-44.

———. Wise Blood. Noon Day Press, 1990.

Rosenfeld, Isaac. "To Win by Default." In New Republic, July 7, 1952, pp. 19-20.

For Further Study
Byars, John. "Notes and Discussion: Mimicry and Parody in Wise Blood." In College Literature, Vol. 11, No. 3, 1984, pp. 276-79. This review highlights the ironies in the novel that O'Connor expresses through characters like twins, the grandfather, Layfield, and Hawks. Byars also endorses O'Connor's use of parody through various animal-related incidents.

Fitzgerald, Robert. "Introduction" to Everything That Rises Must Converge. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1965. Fitzgerald shares personal anecdotes about O'Connor as a close family friend. He discusses her struggles with lupus and provides insights into some of her writing.

Golden, Robert, and Mary Sullivan. Flannery O'Connor and Caroline Gordon: A Reference Guide. G. K. Hall, 1977. This book offers a comprehensive guide to reviews, articles, and books about Flannery O'Connor and her work. Additionally, Golden's introduction explains the criticism of O'Connor's works through four different perspectives on the religious themes they address.

Kennedy, Laura. "Exhortation in Wise Blood: Rhetorical Theory as an Approach to Flannery O'Connor." In Flannery O'Connor: New Perspectives, edited by Sura Rath and Mary Shaw. University of Georgia Press, 1996, pp. 152-68. Kennedy identifies three key elements of exhortative discourse and shows how O'Connor's writing aligns with these criteria.

Phillips, Robert. Coping with Lupus. Avery, 1991. This book offers a detailed explanation of lupus and its impact on the body. In addition to a clear overview of the immune system's function, it also explores the emotional, relational, and financial challenges faced by individuals with lupus.

Witt, Jonathan. "Wise Blood and the Irony of Redemption." In the Flannery O'Connor Bulletin, Vol. 22, 1993-94, pp. 12-24. This article provides evidence for the theme of redemption in the novel. Witt's analysis gives new significance to the characters' names and their representations.

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