A Rage of Vision

"A Day may come [. . .] when a pit opens up inside you and
you know some things you never known before" (373).
Flannery O'Connor's The Violent Bear It Away (1960)

Flanery O'Connor's The Violent Bear It Away (1960), chps. 1-4

chps. 1-2

1. why might O’Connor open this tale with such an overly long sentence (331)?
2. does the tale suggest that the old man who raises Tarwater was indeed a prophet touched by God, or was he insane and deserving of permanent institutionalization?
3. why did old Mason Tarwater abscond with young Tarwater years ago?
4. how has old Tarwater’s approach to spreading Christian ideals changed over time?
5. does old Tarwater recognize his own failings?
6. does the tale suggest that the old man who raises Tarwater was indeed a prophet touched by God, or was he insane and deserving of permanent institutionalization?
7. what roles do old Tarwater’s alcohol still and the education he grants young Tarwater play in your estimation of the aged man who self-identifies as a prophet?
8. what does Tarwater know to be true, and how much is guesswork?
9. what aspects of being God's prophet excite young Tarwater, and what makes him uncomfortable?
10. is Tarwater successful in his attempts to “to keep his vision located on an even level, to see no more than what was in front of his face and to let his eyes stop at the surface of that” (343)?
11. why might O’Connor refuse to place quotation marks around the words spoken to young Tarwater by the stranger’s voice?
12. who is the stranger who speaks to young Tarwater with increasing frequency?
13. does this novel interrogate or validate traditional notions about cognitive disability?  Consider not only the figure of Bishop, but other instances in which the concept of “idiocy” makes an appearance.
14. according to old Tarwater, why was Bishop born cognitively disabled? Does Rayber agree?
15. an array of characters in this tale boast of being “free,” or granting one another true “freedom.”  Which characters actually exhibit the greatest freedom of action and thought?
16. when young Tarwater first visited the city, he wanted to meet everyone and was dismayed to realize that their eyes didn’t grab at you like the eyes of country people,” that accidentally bumping into someone else did not generate familiarity and friendship  (346).  Is he more discerning when he enters town following his uncle’s death?  Does Tarwater develop good instincts about whom to trust?
17. do the various accusations thrown by old Tarwater at the schoolteacher, as part of young Tarwater's education, have the ring of truth or falsehood?
18. did Old Tarwater’s education of seven-year-old Rayber improve his situation in any demonstrable ways?
19. soon after the car crash that kills Rayber’s parents and grandmother, he obliquely calls Old Tarwater a demon via a deft allusion to Matthew 12:43-45 (373-74).  What does the text suggest?  Is the reader encouraged to class Old Tarwater as more demonic than angelic?
20. Old Tarwater claims that when he showed up on young Rayber’s doorstep a few days after the latter’s parents were killed in a car crash, Rayber was glad to see him.  Old Tarwater says Rayber’s appreciation was “‘all underneath his face’” (374) that Rayber’s promise to “‘put you away for good and all’” does not convince Old Tarwater.  “The old man insisted that [Rayber’s] words were one thing and his actions and the look on his face another” (376).  Is this an accurate assessment?  Is Rayber deeply conflicted?

chps. 3-4

1. Old Tarwater considered his sister (366) and niece (355, 366) to be whores. Does this assessment dovetail with Rayber’s own references to his mother and sister?
2. is Rayber senior open to religious ideas?
3. how do we reconcile the fact that both Old Tarwater (367-68) and Rayber (401, 402) believe that mental or spiritual tendencies can be passed through the blood?
4. what might have motivated Rayber to write the article about his great-uncle?
5. recall Old Tarwater’s claims about Rayber junior’s character (chps. 1-2).  Do chapters 3-4 reveal the falsity of these accusations, or underscore their validity?
6. why does Rayber’s wife not live with him and Bishop anymore?
7. are most of young Tarwater’s actions the result of a compulsion he cannot control, or a mission he has freely chosen?
8. why has O’Connor given Rayber a son with a profound cognitive disability?
9. does Rayber love his son?
10. who wields more control by the end of chp. 4, Rayber or Frankie Tarwater?

Composition V (1911)
Wassily Kandinsky

Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu