A New Jesus
"The Church Without Christ don't have a Jesus but it needs one! It needs a
new jesus! It needs one that's all man, without blood to waste, and
it needs one that don't look like any other man
so you'll look at him (80).
Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood (1952)
Points
for Reflection
The Bible: Jeremiah 17:5-10
- Through the prophet Jeremiah, the Lord says what about those who trust in their own minds and bodies, and those of other humans?
- What mental health benefits will apparently accrue to those who trust in God?
- Does this passage suggest that humans can trust their feelings?
- Does God appear more interested in actions or motivations?
Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood (1952), chps 8-9
- Is Enoch’s “wise blood” best described as intuition, idiocy, spiritual compulsion, or something else?
- Which of Enoch’s compulsions seem utterly ridiculous and intended to elicit the reader’s laughter? Do any seem oddly serious?
- Which elements of Haze's preaching resonate with traditional preaching, and which elements differ?
- What practical and symbolic functions does Haze’s car serve?
- What questions rise up in Haze’s mind when presented with the enigma that is Asa Hawks?
- Why does Haze want to seduce Sabbath Lily Hawks?
- Haze boasts that his Church Without Christ will offer its members what?
- A number of other characters who have rejected or distorted orthodox Christian beliefs still spout Christian doctrine. Is Onnie Jay (Hoover Shoats) Jay Holy one of these?
Robert Browning's "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" (1852; 1855)
- How many object configurations can you identify in this painting?
- Does Childe Roland correctly assess the character of the man who provides him directions in the opening to “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came”?
- What now motivates Roland as he continues to push forward on his long quest?
- What is the epic simile of stanzas 5-6 (ll.25-36) intended to illustrate?
- Do any events in the poem appear unrealistic, fantastic even?
- What does Nature, personified by the narrator, say is the only cure for the wasteland?
- Why does the narrator respond with hate to the horse he encounters (stanzas 13-14)?
- How helpful do Roland's memories prove in motivating him to push forward?
- Do the river and opposite bank across which Roland travels provide a respite from the depressingly wasted terrain through which he has been trudging (stanzas 19-24)?
- Just after Roland notes a black bird flying overhead and wonders whether it is the guide he has been seeking, he realizes he has arrived at the tower. What else might the bird represent, besides a guide?
- Is the noise which surrounds Roland at the poem's close a product of an actual bell being tolled, or a function of his imagination?
- Is Roland actually surrounded by the spirits of dead adventurers in the final stanza?
- Does the poem conclude on a triumphant or tragic note?
- Do the various surroundings through which the narrator has traversed reflect the narrator’s emotional state? Do they ever provide a point of contrast for his thoughts?
- What might be the significance of the "dark tower"? What of the journey itself? Does the poem lend itself to allegorical interpretation?
- From what play by Shakespeare was the title of this poem drawn? Does knowing the play and its contents inflect the way you read this poem?
Birth of a Divinity (1960)
oil on canvas
Salvador Dalí
Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu
