Abject Grotesque of Flannery O'Connor's "A View of the Woods" Jan Ostrowski College

In Powers of Horror Julia Kristeva brings up a subject of abjection and states that it is “positioned somewhere between the I, the subject, and the object” (Graulund). To put it in Kristeva’s own words, the abject functions in the “in-between, the ambiguous, the composite” (Kristeva 4) and therefore it cannot be identified neither as a constituent of the subject, nor the object. Abjection’s vague status has a grotesque effect since it effectively blurs the distinction between the integral and the external. Inability to distinguish between the “I” and the “Not I” seems to be at the core of Mr. Fortune’s character. Flannery O’Connor’s short story A View of the Woods focuses on the mentioned protagonist’s relationship with his granddaughter, Mary, and his land. Although Mr. Fortune’s figure is quite peculiar itself, it is the depiction of these bonds that creates a truly grotesque character of A View of the Woods.

From the opening pages of O’Connor’s story, it is clear that Mary is a doppelganger character. In just third paragraph reader learns that her face was a “a small replica of the old man’s” (O’Connor 336). Mr. Fortune is extremely fond of his youngest granddaughter, but it is important to notice that he cherishes her only...