"Judgment Day"

"[. . .] but he had an instant's sensation of seeing before him
a negative image of himself, as if clownishness and
captivity had been their common lot" (683).
Flannery O'Cohnnor's "Judgment Day" (1965)

Points for Reflection

Flannery O'Connor's "Judgment Day" (1965), 677-95

1. The characters use the n-word often in dialogue.  Does the narrator?
2. In what ways is the elderly Tanner disabled?
3. Does Tanner’s daughter treat him well?
4. Tanner’s son-in-law says his father-in-law had a stroke when he saw a black man in the building (677).  Is this an accurate summing up of what happened?
5. Are Tanner and his daughter equally racist?
6. Is Doctor Foley a man of principle?
7. Triangulate the data points provided by Tanner’s thoughts and words concerning Christian ideas.  Is he a faithful believer?
8. Why does Tanner whittle wood incessantly when overseeing a group of black workers?
9. Does Tanner admit to his own weaknesses and failings?
10. What is the “invisible power” working on the wood in Tanner’s hands (683)?
11. Is what Doctor Foley says about daughters in general true of Tanner’s daughter?  Does Tanner’s daughter treat him well?
12. What does Tanner’s daughter suggest as an alternative to moping--staring out the window and talking about morbid topics?
13. Do Tanner’s creative impulses and imagination prove beneficial to him?
14. Would you characterize the connection between Tanner and Coleman as that of true friends?
15. Is the tale’s conclusion tragic?  Redemptive? Ambiguous?

Saint Jerome (1960)
oil on canvas
Salvador Dali

Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu