A Temple of the Holy Ghost.

The main character of this story, the twelve year old girl, is an interesting one. She's intelligent, funny, quick on her feet, and quite wise for her age. Flannery O'Connor writes in a humorously blunt style, unafraid to share with readers ugly realities (including physical traits), awkward characteristics, or harsh judgments. In a way this makes her writings more believable. For example:  "Joanna had yellow hair that was naturally curly but she talked through her nose and when she laughed, she turned purple in patches."

Something this style makes me think of is that although idiosyncrasies (like the one in the example) are easy to turn into hurtful and/or humorous realities, the truth is that we all have characteristics like these. This story makes me think about people in general and the many ways in which we relate through our weaknesses, disadvantages, and flaws. We just can't be "perfect," even though most of us have an idea of what this looks like. To O'Connor (whether representing herself or the imagined narrator) she has an idea of beauty that is apparently marred by nasal voices, blemishes, and certain facial structures. To go a step further, this is a reminder to me to be careful with my words and how I describe people or things. If I'm not careful, I may disrespectfully represent someone or something in an unfair, slanderous, or hurtful way. Traits of people that may be odd to me may be normal to many others. None of this is to critique O'Connor's writing style; she is creative and successful and uses her style to convey messages. However, these are thoughts that have sprung from observing her descriptions.

Something else I think of is how lightly we tend to take serious truths. Jesus Himself told us our bodies are temples for His Spirit to indwell. However, the two visiting girls in the story have turned the truth into a big joke. This has to do with their insincerity of faith. They are just going to the convent because their families want them tamed. Their faith is not personal. They may even have gotten a bad taste of religion: "...they were beginning to realize that she was made of the same stuff as Sister Perpetua." The notice religious lingo and pat answers and want to avoid it.

I actually don't blame them. Faith is supposed to be so much more than fact. It's real relationship. I see the desire and search for this in the child in the story. She wants more. She day dreams of lions converting when they witness her faith. She prays because she's supposed to, but she wants more to come from the practice. She wants what she prays for to become who she is. She is even thankful to God that she is not part of a religious denomination (the Church of God). And upon hearing the story the girls shared about the both male and female person from the fair, she mulls over the facts that we are God's temples and that He made us different ways. She wants to accept all these differences. It's almost as if O'Connors writing style is both redeemed and condemned with the thoughts on page 98. We're made unique in many ways, so it really is okay however we look. But at the same time, maybe we shouldn't accentuate the differences so much.