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March 22, 2006
dumb oxes
O'Connor, '''A Temple of the Holy Ghost'' -- Jerz: American Lit II (EL 267)
"'You big dumb ox!' she shouted. 'You big dumb Church of God ox!' she roared and fell off the barrel..."
The child's angry outburst at the boys for calling the girls' singing "Jew singing" surprised me. It seems as if she is aligned with the girls in this scene, practically defending them where she had been so disgusted with them up to this point. Perhaps their common religion caused this alignment.
Posted by JenniferDiFulvio at March 22, 2006 08:07 PM
Comments
Jennifer,
Yes I guess she did protect them at this point. But was it for her to show off and make them look stupid or is it that she just did not like the boys. The religious aspect could have been a part of it being that she knew her flaws and mentioned them in the book. For a young child she is very intelligent.
Posted by: Lisa Randolph at March 22, 2006 10:29 PM
I don't really see her protecting the girls anywhere in this passage--I only see her continuing to act condescending and haughty--but maybe I'm missing something.
Posted by: ChrisU at March 23, 2006 02:51 AM
These girls sort of remind me of little devil children, i don't know why that is but they seem so disrespectful of others and i believe that is why they are at the convent. Maybe it has something to do with them being so overly intelligent that it is interfering with the way the treat others.
Posted by: Melissa Lupari at March 23, 2006 07:55 AM
I like your take on this particular idea of O' Connor's view of religion. I really think that O' Connor is heading in a different direction, away from the purity that religion stood for in the first 4 stories that we have read. I'm not even sure if the common religion holds strong in this story, which makes these people act in such an erratic manner.
Posted by: Jason Pugh at March 23, 2006 10:33 AM
When I read that part, I suppose I just guessed that the 12-year-old who believes she's smarter than everyone else, got instantly angry with the stupidity of the two farm boys who didn't recognize the difference between Latin and Hebrew.
I saw this as O'Connor perhaps railing against those who simply suck up the teachings of their religious leaders without ever stopping to consider things on their own. The two farm hands, would only know what their pastor told them about religion, likewise the two 14-year-old girls would only know the version they're taught in the convent.
The girls could have sung their song in German, Russian, or even Japanese and the two hayseeds might still have called it "Jew singing." Each of their own worlds are so provincial -- the boys isolated on a farm and the girls inside the walled convent -- that they're not exposed to things around them, as perhaps is the 12-year-old.
She certainly regards the two girls as dummies, narrating earlier that they're not smart enough even for regular schools. Maybe the fact that neither one of the girls speaks up regarding the "Jew singing" comment is telltale.
An ox, of course, is regularly regarded as a dumb animal, one that is led around by others and perhaps only suited for manual labor, like that on a farm.
Posted by: Matt Hampton at March 23, 2006 11:30 AM