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March 16, 2006
My Body is a Temple...
O'Connor, '''A Temple of the Holy Ghost'' -- Jerz: American Lit II (EL 267)
"I dont dispute him. This is the way he wanted me to be."
This statment connect the child and the freak at the fair. The freak was referring to its deformity and the child was referring to her impure thoughts. The child immediately remembers this statement as reported from the other girls visit at the fair when she started having ugly thoughts in the "presence of god".
Im unsure of why the little girl was simply referred to as the child, unless O'Connor was inviting the reader to take that childs place in the story...
What also bothers me is the "maturity" of the two older girls sexually and the innocence of the younger one. There is only 2 years difference but it is completely noticable. I mean the 14 years olds were permitted to witness the transsexual at the fair compared to the 12 year olds idea of childrearing is "seeing" a rabbit spit babies out of its mouth. Thats a huge difference.
Posted by KayleeNorth at March 16, 2006 05:15 PM
Comments
Do you see any connections between the "freak" and other O'Connor characters we've read about?
Posted by: Dennis G. Jerz at March 17, 2006 06:33 PM
Kaylee,
Good insight. How did you figure out the age of the girl. Personally, I thought that was funny that she said the rabbit spits out the babies. I think that it was sick that the two girls "temple one" and "Temple two" act the way they do and go to the convent. Obviously that is why because of their behavior but they are both very immature and act like children. The younger girl seems to be more mature. She "the girl" even admits her weaknesses and attitude. Very good for a younger child to acknowledge these flaws she has.
Posted by: LisaRandolph at March 19, 2006 11:49 AM