Hairoglyphics: A Character Analysis

In the stories written by Hurston, Faulkner, and O’Connor, many of the characters appear to be flawed; the main protagonists all have a distorted mental state. Southern novels often feature a type of grotesque theme. In “ Hairoglyphics in Faulkner's " A Rose for Emily"/ Reading the Primal Trace “, authors Mary Arensberg and Sara E. Schyfter discuss the mental state of Miss Emily in “ A Rose for Emily “ by William Faulkner. The authors state, “ Incest between a father and daughter, the re-enactment of the primal scene, is always represented as a secondary scene that strives to repeat the parental embrace”( Arensberg, Schyfter 127 ). Miss Emily quite possibly encountered an incest relationship with her father, which speaks volumes about her mental
For one, the grandmother can be quite manipulative. Because she wants to visit her family in Tennessee instead of vacationing in Florida, she attempts to scare the family away from Florida by “ warning “ her son about the escaped Misfit who killed multiple people. Once she was able to coax her family into going to Tennessee, she traps them into visiting a house in Georgia by revealing to the children that the house contained a secret panel. She even attempts to deceive the Misfit and pays little to no attention to her family, so she could save her own life. The grandmother insists on dressing and acting like a lady to hide the fact that she is “ common blood “ The Misfit also has some deep rooted issues. The story states “ "Turn to the left, it was a wall. Look up it was a ceiling, look down it was a floor. I forget what I done, lady. I set there and set there,trying to remember what it was I done and I ain't recalled it to this day." ( O’Connor 9 ). The Misfit was once buried alive, which does a lot to someone’s mind and soul. The Misfit explains how he kills people and commits crime due to the fact that Jesus did raise the dead, and he has to reason to follow him, only to commit crimes out of pure meanness. Both the grandmother and the Misfit are alike, which the grandmother
The first character introduced is Joy “ Hulga “ Hopewell. Hulga is an insecure atheist who has a wooden leg due to a hunting accident. Hulga convinces herself that she will convert her Bible-selling lover, Pointer, into an atheist and seduce him. This demonstrates how Hulga is manipulative has a false sense of reality. Pointer also showed mentally disturbed traits. O’Connor states “ “ I've gotten a lot of interesting things," he said. "One time I got a woman's glass eye this way. “. Pointer confesses his love to Hulga and convinces her to give him the wooden leg to return his love. He decides to keep Hulga’s leg and take her glasses to belittle her and entrap her in the barn to satisfy his fetish. Pointer has done similar task to other women many times before. Pointer obtains power over women by taking away their crutch and making them feel worthless. Both Pointer and Hulga suffer from a distorted mental