Enduring Chill...

Evan: Hey, aren’t you Asbury?

Asbury: Yeah, what of it?

E: Oh, well I was wondering if we could sit and chat a bit…

A: Sure, as long as you don’t start talking about family.

E: Do you not like your family?

A: My family is…well they’re bothersome. My mother still treats me like I’m five. Every time we arrive at her house she insist on telling when to take my coat off, as if I couldn’t tell when it was getting too hot. My sister, she’s just as strange. Living with out mother, that ain’t normal. I mean, what and when is she going to do something with her life.

E: Are you familiar with O’Connor’s other short stories of “Good Country People” and “Everything That Rises Must Converge?”

A: As a matter of fact, those happen to be my favorites. Why do you ask?

E: It seems that she is trying to make a statement about college educations vs. “True” education. Joy, in “Good Country People,” went to college and was well educated, felt she was better than all of her country friends and family, but was still tricked by a simple bible salesman. Furthermore, Julian was more educated than most of the people he was around, but in the end, was just as simple minded and spiteful as his mother. What do you believe Flannery O’Connor’s view on education really is, since you are a prime example?

A: Well, I agree with your previous statements. O’Connor likes to use irony and deception to convey a flaw in society. Joy, someone who knew a lot and was regarded by many as intelligent, was therefore the most susceptible to the tricks and thievery of Mr. Pointer. Julian too was very smart and returned to his mother after college. He consistently acted out of spite and hatred for his mother and her ideals. All of her characters that return from college, and are therefore highly educated in comparison, are made to look like fools or hypocrites. She purposely makes them question themselves and feel a sense of remorse for thinking the way they did.

E: That was quite a statement about the other characters in her stories, but what about yourself, if I may ask?

A: Me? There’s a topic that I hate talking about. What specifically did you mean?

E: Well, what sort of comparisons can be drawn between you and these other characters and themes?

A: I HATE my mother. I spent my whole life trying to get away from her, but I find myself constantly drawn towards her and her flaws. She is a part of me, just as are my arms and legs. All of these other characters, like myself, desire independence and individuality. They yearn for freedom from their parental restraints and often seek that through knowledge, acting contrary to how their parents would want, and isolating themselves both emotionally and physically. I am included in this too. I separated myself from my mother through knowledge, disobedience, and separation from her in all aspects.

E: Thank you for this time, and I hope your future with your mother and others can be more fortuitous.