And all your sins shall be washed away...
“Bevel didn’t see him at all. He only saw the river, shimmering reddish yellow, and bounded into it with his shoes and his coat on and took a gulp” (O’Connor 51).
Some people, especially Catholics, believe that in death, we are born again. Another way in which Catholics are born again is through baptism, when original sin is washed away and we are newly born into God’s kingdom. In this story, baptism and death are one in the same as we see Bevel, who was baptizing himself, being “overcome with surprise” as the current takes him away and drowns him (52). The message of the story, make ready for death and the Kingdom of God because you never know when the current will take you, is reflected in this line. When Mrs. Connin says to Bevel, “ ‘Some people don’t care how they send one off.’” she foreshadows his death and reinforces this idea (32).
Despite his constant effort Bevel plunges under the water but cannot see Mr. Paradise (who obviously represents the Kingdom of God) because he only sees the worldly surface value of the river. Interestingly, Mr. Paradise is chasing after him with a candy cane. The candy cane was invented as a special gift meant to represent Jesus. The red stripe represents his blood and the white represents his purity from sin. It is also shaped like a “J.”
The boy being baptized in the river can and most likely represents Jesus being baptized by John the Baptist, and his journey to the river represents Jesus’ way to Calvary where he was eventually hung on the cross.
Harry Ashfield- “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”
For more information on O’Connor, check out Jesus the Misfit. In this blog I discuss The Misfit’s line, “She would have been a good woman, if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life,” from Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find. Here I also bring up her Catholic background and explain how she uses it to tell her stories.
You make some really good points and I like your blog However, I think there is more to the story than living each day the best one can, since one never knows when death may come. I think the comment you made about the candy can is very important. But remember what the rest of the quote was? “Then he heard a shout and turned his head and saw something like giant pig bounding after him, shaking a red and white club and shouting” (45). A giant pig, eh? Didn’t Jesus drive some demons into a herd of pigs, which then ran into the sea and drowned themselves? But I think O’Connor picked a pig for more than just the connection of drowning. I think in a lot of ways, O’Connor is mocking this type of religion. The people don’t even know what they are practicing; they are in the dark to the truth. Kind of like how Harry was blind to the fact that there was not really a kingdom under the water.