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The Violent Bear it Away

4.14 of 5 stars 4.14 · rating details · 3,725 ratings · 264 reviews

First published in 1960, The Violent Bear It Away is now a landmark in American literature. It is a dark and absorbing example of the Gothic sensibility and bracing satirical voice that are united in Flannery O'Conner's work. In it, the orphaned Francis Marion Tarwater and his cousins, the schoolteacher Rayber, defy the prophecy of their dead uncle--that Tarwater will beco...more

Paperback, 256 pages

Published January 1st 1960 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (first published 1955)

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Oct 08, 2010 Paul rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: novels

THE INTRO

It often seems that novelists have taken it upon themselves to compile a comprehensive catalogue of all of the thousand and one ways human beings can contrive to be unpleasant to one another.

This novel is one such. Although you may say it’s more about how God contrives to be unpleasant to human beings.

Right at the beginning it’s like going to a big gig – I’m in the audience and we’re all so stoked up that even when we know the band won’t be out for at least 45 minutes, when the roadie c...more

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Apr 26, 2013 [P] rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: abandoned

So, there's this big Thomas Bernhard fan and, get this, he starts reading a book by Flannery O'Connor, who he loves, right, ordinarily anyway, and about 100 pages into the thing he finds himself complaining about the, uh, repetition. Like, what the fuck, huh? You like repetition, dude, you even reviewed a book called repetition and gave it five stars. And, hello, Thomas Bernhard?? He's all repetition; he writes like one goddamn sentence and then just, uh, repeats it hundreds of times for somethi...more So, there's this big Thomas Bernhard fan and, get this, he starts reading a book by Flannery O'Connor, who he loves, right, ordinarily anyway, and about 100 pages into the thing he finds himself complaining about the, uh, repetition. Like, what the fuck, huh? You like repetition, dude, you even reviewed a book called repetition and gave it five stars. And, hello, Thomas Bernhard?? He's all repetition; he writes like one goddamn sentence and then just, uh, repeats it hundreds of times for something like 200 pages. And I told him this, I told him that he was being inconsistent, that there was just no way he could slam the O'Connor book for being repetitive, not with a clear conscience, and he said: 'go fuck yourself', which is rude. But then he said 'no wait, let me explain.' And I said, 'go on.' And he said, 'repetition is fine when it's intended, when it's a tool that the author uses to create a specific effect.' I nodded at this, because these were sage words. 'But I didn't get that impression from the O'Connor book. It didn't feel like a style choice, but more like lazy writing.' I wanted to say that he couldn't possibly know this. Lazy writing? What you ever wrote, Mr Big Shot? Sweet F.A., that's what. 'The thing is, the book is about a crazy old man who kidnaps this kid, and then the old man dies and the now also crazy kid buries him and then burns down the house, and just think how irritated I must have been by the writing to want to shut a book about all that.' 'You musta,' I said, 'because that sounds awesome.' 'It does, right? But she kept repeating herself, like she must have told me a gazillion times that the kid had been told he was to be a prophet - I heard you the first time, Flannery! A prophet, I get it - and how the old guy felt as though, when he was living with the kid's uncle, he was being investigated by him - investigated! No need to make a mental note of that, cos Flannery will keep reminding you of it - and worst of all she kept describing how everyone was looking at everyone else, literally all the time, ten times a page.' 'People look at other people', I said, 'I'm looking at you right now.' 'Yeah, I know. But it's a given though, isn't it? People look at people. I don't need a writer to tell me that someone's looking at someone all the time. He looked! He stared! He glanced! She looked! She stared! They looked! They goddamn stared! You looking at me? Well there's nobody else here! [Singing] Me looking at you, you looking at me, it's always the same, it's just a shame, that's all. That's a line from a song by Genesis! Ge-nes-is. This book...made me think...of Genesis. You know, Phil Collins? Smug bastard? That ain't right, that just ain't right.' 'No, I can see that,' I said. Then he started to cry, and I felt bad. Poor bastard. Genesis. (less)

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Jun 29, 2007 Bryce rated it 4 of 5 stars

Everyone should read Flannery O'Connor, but I wouldn't start with this novel. First read some short stories--my favorite is Good Country People. But this novel is well written and very her. I love her bizzareness and the Southernness that just pervades everything she writes. Her characters are so amazingly real and yet completely unreal at the same time. She makes the unbelievable believable without seeming to try.

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Mar 06, 2009 Proctodeal Trophallaxus rated it 2 of 5 stars

I read this book after finishing her collected short stories and Wise Blood, her first novel. None of her other work prepared me for this, her cynical, paranoid mind fuck of a novel. Her prose, as always, is clear and excellent, and she once again explores faith and its absence in a way that allows for no easy solutions, no pat answers. But Christ on a crutch is this a difficult book. One of the things I love about her work is the wry sense of humor laced through it, balancing out the dark theme...more

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Apr 17, 2013 S rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: classics, literature

I grew up in the Bible Belt, the "Christ-haunted" south...and I agree with some others here that FOC makes the religious zealots burn off the page, and the non-believers (or those fighting not to believe)are depicted as empty husks.

It is a strange perspective to be a passionate Catholic (as FOC was) in the Bible Belt.

Schizoid, Gothic, and occasionally beautiful are words that come to mind for the reactions of young tender minds brought up "in Jesus" in the South. (While I was surrounded by this...more I grew up in the Bible Belt, the "Christ-haunted" south...and I agree with some others here that FOC makes the religious zealots burn off the page, and the non-believers (or those fighting not to believe)are depicted as empty husks.

It is a strange perspective to be a passionate Catholic (as FOC was) in the Bible Belt.

Schizoid, Gothic, and occasionally beautiful are words that come to mind for the reactions of young tender minds brought up "in Jesus" in the South. (While I was surrounded by this, I myself was not brought up this way.)

Her characters seem far-out, but I felt they were real enough beyond puppeted symbols. The very quality of her writing expresses the compelling draw of religious passion. I have had three close male friends who have definitely had a fiery imprint on them from a very young age, for good or ill. All three have feared what "their blood" may draw them toward. One was getting "raised up" to preach and ended up in a punk rock band drenched in blood...and writhing in pain and pleasure at guilt. One was a cerebral and passionate atheist who turned to Christ in his last year, even playing Jesus in a church play, grotesquely covered in blood, as I hear it. One is a professor who teaches humanities. His family background was torn from the pages of FOC and Faulkner. All 3 are gen-X guys who grew up with Jesus, and consumed Faulkner and FOC. They wrestled with their origin.

As a child, I would think a book like this was trying to be as wild as possible. Now I feel it is heightened realism. The main place I felt the strain was with the uncle who was so worried he might revert. But some people have no middle road left when they feel they are tearing themselves away from a cult.

I will be interested to read more of FOC's personal beliefs. Part of what makes her so compelling to me is that she has her own very specific beliefs and points to her stories, whether that's what we take away or not.

She is a great writer, and this book was enjoyable to read for the dark and unique poetry of her storytelling, even if it was tormenting in other ways.

(less)

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Aug 17, 2008 Miriam rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: ideas

I read this in one go, sitting up late in bed. I thinking I was shaking when I finished it. I've only (voluntarily) stayed up late reading something for a class a few times, and I think they were all for this same course. I can't remember the professor's name and don't think she got tenure, but man was she good at picking books.

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Jul 26, 2010 Jesse rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2010

Strange, beautiful, difficult book. The overwhelming religiosity or the book's message is hard to take, but it couldn't exist without it. I appreciated its darkness and subtle brutality, the bleakness of its existential outlook, but I just found myself agreeing with the angry atheist character. It's too O'Connor's credit that she lets each character speak as he needs to, rather than as she wants him to, and they all say what they should in keeping with who they are, rather than what would be mos...more

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Mar 13, 2009 Charlaralotte rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: heavy duty readers

Shelves: read-in-1988, read-in-2009

I first read this in college for a course on Southern Women Writers. Due to the frenetic pace at which I had to ingest the books on the syllabus, I retained nothing about this story except for when the kid comes out of the field and gets into the truck.

Well, a hell of a lot more happens in the book than that. Pretty incredible portrait of three generations ruined by religious fundamentalism. Scary as hell. Each man deals with his "burden" in different ways, and each one in turn gain nothing. Hig...more

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Aug 15, 2010 Skylar Burris rated it 3 of 5 stars

I was struck by this book, but I feel I have not yet understood it. As I read this, I kept thinking of O'Connor's remark in an interview that the south, if not exactly Christ-centered, is "Christ haunted." This is a disturbing, difficult book, and I was left wondering, "What does it all mean?" O’Connor reminds me of another Catholic author, Graham Greene, in her depiction of the Christian religious person as sinful, dark, violent, passionate, vibrantly alive, touched and consumed and overpowered...more

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Jul 22, 2010 Eddie Watkins rated it 5 of 5 stars

I know virtually nothing about Flannery O’Connor’s life and outlook on life. I know that she was a Catholic and that she raised peacocks and that she died too young, of lupus. That’s about it. She also inherited, either through blood or Southern literary tradition, a fire-and-brimstone vision of life and human passions, and more than even Wise Blood, The Violent Bear it Away is an expression of this vision.

Seems the only characters that really matter to O’Connor are the extremists, either in th...more

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Jul 29, 2008 James rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

When it comes to religion, I find O'Connor much like Dostoevsky in that she is able to present a series of characters and situations that to me very forcefully illustrate the non-existence of God, while I'm certain she creates them to argue the complete opposite.

So, spoiler alert I guess. Francis Marion Tarwater, a fourteen year old sociopathic (and possibly schizophrenic) murderer with delusions of biblical grandeur is not reached whatsoever by the secular-minded uncle who attempts to help him...more

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Jan 15, 2009 Ed Ditto rated it 4 of 5 stars

Ancestor of Child of God, the Orchard Keeper, etc. As HST once wrote: "Not another one of these goddam Southern gothic sots!" But I happen to like sots, and Southerners...

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Sep 27, 2009 Daniel rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Daniel by: Emily

I was told "If you ever have time for a life changing novel...." Thank you Emily. O'Conner should get a posthumous nobel prize for literature just for this book, but more importantly, she should get a nobel prize for experimental physics. When I read her I feel like she is showing me, no pulling on me, with a force of nature.

I just reread this and it got even better. I love the line about Rayber that goes something like "He felt it as an undertow in his blood that was pulling him backwards towa...more

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May 10, 2013 Ben De Bono rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: drama, theology

This is a challenging and thought provoking novel, not easily understood or dismissed. O'Connor weaves several ideas throughout the work, bringing them to a conclusion that provides answers, though not easy ones.

Knowing of O'Connor's Catholic convictions, it came as no surprise that this book is chock full of religious themes and imagery. But what I found intriguing is the way that God is found in the work - not by his presence but by his absence. The three types of faith present - atheism, rel...more

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Apr 20, 2013 yve rated it 4 of 5 stars

Being a steadfast lover of O'Connor's work by the time I read it, I inevitably enjoyed The Violent Bear It Away (henceforth "TVBIA"). However, this novel largely lacks the subtlety and humor of the rest of her oeuvre. Wise Blood is a comic novel - and the way O'Connor employs comedy in that regard services the grave importance of the book, makes it even more serious, in a way. In contrast, TVBIA, aside from a few typically clever descriptions, is infinitely somber and less effective.

It goes back...more Being a steadfast lover of O'Connor's work by the time I read it, I inevitably enjoyed The Violent Bear It Away (henceforth "TVBIA"). However, this novel largely lacks the subtlety and humor of the rest of her oeuvre. Wise Blood is a comic novel - and the way O'Connor employs comedy in that regard services the grave importance of the book, makes it even more serious, in a way. In contrast, TVBIA, aside from a few typically clever descriptions, is infinitely somber and less effective.

It goes back to old standbys in terms of themes, and it's the way these symbols are revealed and the character's motives are unveiled that annoys me. For a particular example, the paragraph where Rayber's ascetic lifestyle is described: his avoidance of his natural tendency towards Christ is made painfully, PAINFULLY obvious in so few words, leaving little room for reflection. In comparison to the other avoidant personality, Hazel Motes, who is meticulously characterized, both tragic and humorous, Rayber seems weak. There are some good lines in here, like the famous "bleeding stinking mad shadow of Jesus," but it seems like just another version of the shadowy Jesus darting in and out between the trees in Haze's mind.

The other parallel I instantly drew was with my personal favorite O'Connor story, "The Lame Shall Enter First": Rayber <-> Sheppard, Tarwater <-> Johnson, Bishop <-> Norton, all extremely exaggerated versions. But again, this comparison is not flattering to TVBIA. Though the characters are very similar, virtually none of the humor or cleverness is replicated. In "The Lame Shall Enter First," we do get the straightforward explanations of what Sheppard thinks Johnson is thinking, but it is largely limited to one character and a good amount is at least left to the reader's own devices. The familial element, though more dramatic, is misplaced and diluted. The battle for the child's soul has less dynamism, most likely because Bishop goes above and beyond Norton's tragic passivity to being a total non-character, and without that child's sense of emptiness and desperation the story is less engaging. All in all TVBIA is les human.(less)

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Apr 14, 2013 Stephen rated it 4 of 5 stars

I do not know of another author like Flannery O'Connor (though of course, that's not saying too much: my breadth of fiction not impressive). Her writing does have an undercurrent of similarity - this novel being a lengthened, perhaps diluted, version of her short stories.

One of the marks of her writing (since I just read a book about it) may be what the Japanese admired in poetry:

kokoro : includes sincerity, conviction, or "heart"; also "craft" in a particular way. Admired for their "masculini...more I do not know of another author like Flannery O'Connor (though of course, that's not saying too much: my breadth of fiction not impressive). Her writing does have an undercurrent of similarity - this novel being a lengthened, perhaps diluted, version of her short stories.

One of the marks of her writing (since I just read a book about it) may be what the Japanese admired in poetry:

kokoro : includes sincerity, conviction, or "heart"; also "craft" in a particular way. Admired for their "masculinity": that is, "for uncluttered, direct, and often severe expression of emotion.

So in this way, she's one of the most "masculine" writers I've ever read, which I quite enjoy, btw.

One of the difficulties in reading this book is how it is framed. At the beginning, Matthew 11:12 is quoted: "And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away." - from which the novel takes its name. The difficulty lies in the fact that the verse itself is difficult, and the Greek can, in fact, be interpreted in numerous ways. I have not read a satisfactory commentary/explanation on the verse (yet, in my brief searchings). Interestingly, one commentary I read, gave 3 possible interpretations -- and this novel, full of symbolism, seems to encompass all 3!

Which brings me to her writing again: there seems to be nothing but symbolism or what I shall describe as "depth" to her writing. Always you are wondering if there's an allusion or reference or deep symbolic message in the characters or plot or asides. I suppose this makes for a difficult but enjoyable read: by a great many people (in my opinion). On the other hand, I assume there would be even more enjoyment for subsequent reads by people who know a little more what O'Connor was attempting. After reading, I cannot with confidence point to something as say "this. this is what she was saying". Maybe this quote, though (by O'Connor), is helpful:

“The novelist with Christian concerns will find in modern life distortions which are repugnant to him, and his problem will be to make these appear as distortions to an audience which is used to seeing them as natural; and he may well be forced to take ever more violent means to get his vision across to this hostile audience. When you can assume that your audience holds the same beliefs you do, you can relax a little and use more normal ways of talking to it; when you have to assume that it does not, then you have to make your vision apparent by shock -- to the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost blind you draw large and startling figures.” (emphasis mine)

I think that says a great deal, but perhaps it would be... a violence to her writing to try to narrow it down too much.

...
As for more details of the book: read it yourself.(less)

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Apr 10, 2013 Dnicebear rated it 4 of 5 stars

After waiting almost a year I read this book in parts of two days. What a messy title! "It" stands for the "Kingdom of God" as it reads in a particular translation of Matthew 11:12. In other words, my guess at what the title may mean is that violence keeps away the Kingdom of God.

A lot of the characters in Ms O'Connor's book are violent...and for rather odd reasons. The elder, rural Tarwater is violent in reaction to his urban Teacher relative because he experienced the Teacher relative "studyin...more

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Feb 21, 2013 Michael Garofalo rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I think I didn't understand this book. It was engaging and I connected with Tarwater and Rayber (the schoolteacher), but I saw the old man as an antagonist and even though they had different callings - the old man to proselytize justice and the young man to proselytize mercy - I still felt like Tarwater lost in the end.

Moses was probably the prophet with the most checkered past, and God made sure that he was given greater and closer access to divinity than any other person save Jesus. God even r...more

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Feb 06, 2013 Matt Bianco rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

Well, first let me say I will not make the mistake of rating Flannery O'Connor four stars again. She is a five star worthy author, that much is clear. From both the quality of her writing and also the amount of kickback I received when I rated her book, Wise Blood, only four stars!

Flannery O'Connor is an extraordinary writer. She is one of the few people who can write a story in which all of the characters can be disliked and yet still tell a story worth reading. This book is about a young boy w...more

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Dec 13, 2011 Jane Connor rated it 5 of 5 stars

Старый религиозный фанатик и шизофреник Мейсон Таруотер, возомнивший себя пророком, похищает своего внучатого племянника, чтобы вырастить его вдали от людей и их пагубного влияния и сделать мальчика таким же пророком. Спустя четырнадцать лет, после смерти деда, мальчик Фрэнсис Марион Таруотер сжигает дом деда вместе с его телом и отправляется на поиски своего дяди Рейбера, учителя, у которого когда-то давно дед его и забрал. Но мальчик не верит теперь ни россказням деда, ни уверениям дяди, что э...more Старый религиозный фанатик и шизофреник Мейсон Таруотер, возомнивший себя пророком, похищает своего внучатого племянника, чтобы вырастить его вдали от людей и их пагубного влияния и сделать мальчика таким же пророком. Спустя четырнадцать лет, после смерти деда, мальчик Фрэнсис Марион Таруотер сжигает дом деда вместе с его телом и отправляется на поиски своего дяди Рейбера, учителя, у которого когда-то давно дед его и забрал. Но мальчик не верит теперь ни россказням деда, ни уверениям дяди, что эти россказни – ложь. Вот такой вот вам сюрреалистический конфликт.

И автор, Фланнери О'Коннор, практически не дает ни одного намека, ни одного ключа к разгадке этого конфликта, выливающегося в итоге не в умозрительный спор, а в чудовищные, наполненные символизмом и аллегориями события. Ясно изложить, что стоит за этим символизмом, тоже довольно непросто, но если удастся вскрыть хотя бы верхний слой в понимании острой как бритва и тягучей как патока прозы О'Коннор, то можно посчитать себя удачливым читателем. Поэтому если не удастся проникнуть в замысел писателя, то всегда есть шанс, что метафоричный, поэтический язык книги составит счастье любителя, так сказать, словесности :).

Слова в романе звенят, перекатываются по странице точными, емкими формулировками, метафорически заряженные и прозаически цельные. Флэннери О'Коннор творит на страницах книги макабрический, мрачный мир теней, мир бесконечного безумия и безвыходных ситуаций, которые даже в своей кажущейся обыденности превращаются в поле борьбы... Нет, не добра и зла, а одного безумия с другим. Добро и зло в этом романе бороться не могут, ведь никто из героев почти понимает между ними разницу. И никого из героев нельзя назвать психически нормальным человеком.

В этом смысле первые главы романа, показанные глазами юного Таруотера, впечатляют особенно. Таруотер, казалось бы, вполне вменяемый и критичный к окружающему мальчик, своими комментариями по поводу дедовских рассказов дает понять читателю, до какой степени дед ненормален. Некоторое время эта критичность заставляет думать, что Таруотеру, выросшему почти без людей и под влиянием такого безумца, удалось-таки стать более-менее адекватным человеком. И тем страшнее становится сначала сцена с рытьем могилы деду и появлением у Таруотера «друга», тем страшнее все последующие события с дядей и его умственно-отсталым сыном, которого дед наказал Таруотеру во чтобы то ни стало окрестить.

Идейно и формально противостояние в романе происходит между двумя фундаментально различными взглядами на жизнь – фанатичной религиозностью Таруотера и его деда и атеизмом его дяди Рейбера. По сути же это противостояние оказывается борьбой между сумасшедшими, глубоко покореженными временем и воспитанием людьми, и в конечном итоге, герои борются даже не с друг другом, а с самими собой, часто не осознавая этого в силу собственного безумия. И получается, что психологические мотивы (или лучше сказать, психиатрические мотивы?) персонажей в романе важнее, чем мировоззренческие.

Так, Таруотер, воспитанный сумасшедшим в религиозном духе, психологически не способен верить вообще ни во что. Не только он отказывается от веры деда, он даже не в состоянии осознать, осмыслить или узнать в ком-то такое неотъемлемое понятие веры как милосердие. Показательно, что в «пророческих» речах деда слова «милосердие» и «любовь» не появляются ни разу. Получается, что Таруотер, высокомерный и наглый, болен духовно с самого начала, а под влиянием безумного деда и наследственности болезнь быстро переходит в душевную.

Рейбер вызывает сначала немного больше симпатии. Но не рассчитывайте, что это продлится долго – откровения самого Рейбера заставят читателя рвать на себе волосы. Этот находится в ином психологическом тупике. С детства объединив понятия безумия и веры – все благодаря тому же дяде-психу, он всю жизнь старается подавить в себе веру, любовь и вообще всякие чувства, подавляя, как ему кажется, и сумасшествие. Итог один, как можно догадаться, и для Рейбера, и для Таруотера, и итог этот подобен кошмару безумца.(less)

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Oct 28, 2010 Darryl rated it 3 of 5 stars

The Violent Bear it Away, O'Connor's second novel, begins with the death of Mason Tarwater, a devoutly and fiercely religious old man who lives deep in the woods outside of a moderate sized town in Tennessee in the mid 20th century. His only surviving "heir" is his great-nephew Francis, a 14 year old boy who prefers to be called Tarwater. Mason kidnapped Tarwater as an infant from his nephew Rayber, the boy's uncle and a schoolteacher who lives in town, in order to baptize and educate the boy in...more

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Sep 19, 2010 Rowland Bismark rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

WALK AWAY IN HELL WITH ME

The Violent Bear It Away, published in New York in 1960, is Flannery O'Connor's darkly humorous Gothic novel about a Southern boy's spiritual awakening. It charts the spiritual and physical journey of fourteen-year-old Francis Marion Tarwater, raised by his great-uncle in the backwoods of Alabama to be a prophet. Tarwater travels to the city, where he struggles against the need to deny his spiritual inheritance and the call of God. O'Connor paints a macabre picture of So...more WALK AWAY IN HELL WITH ME

The Violent Bear It Away, published in New York in 1960, is Flannery O'Connor's darkly humorous Gothic novel about a Southern boy's spiritual awakening. It charts the spiritual and physical journey of fourteen-year-old Francis Marion Tarwater, raised by his great-uncle in the backwoods of Alabama to be a prophet. Tarwater travels to the city, where he struggles against the need to deny his spiritual inheritance and the call of God. O'Connor paints a macabre picture of Southern life and religious fundamentalism and parodies the blind self-assurances of modern secular thinking. The novel is unsettling because it offers no easy truths; its hero is an unlikable boy who learns that doing God's work entails violence, unreason, even madness. It is not, as might be expected, a parody of religious fanaticism, but a psychological study of the mysterious, frightening, and sometimes offensive nature of the religious calling. Stark religious symbolism and Biblical allusions unite to explore themes of spiritual hunger, faith versus reason, and the battle for the soul. O'Connor wrote the novel over eight years while suffering from lupus, publishing the first chapter as a story, "You Can't Be Poorer Than Dead," in 1955. Her last major work to be published in her lifetime, The Violent Bear It Away contains elements found in much of O'Connor's fiction. Her only other novel, Wise Blood(1952), fuses humor and horror to examine questions of faith, suffering, family relationships, and intellectual versus religious understanding. The novel was not particularly well received when it first appeared; many critics found it strange and impenetrable. But, to some extent because of O'Connor's reputation as a master of the short story, the novel is now considered an important work in the Gothic tradition and acknowledged to be O'Connor's best work of longer fiction.

The main action of The Violent Bear It Away is simple and occurs over seven days, but much of the novel consists of flashbacks that recall incidents in the lives of the main characters. As events are brought to mind through the memories of various individuals, the author provides insight into their psychological and spiritual natures, reveals the motivations behind their actions, and offers an intimate family history clouded by personal feelings, religious and intellectual beliefs, and emotional confusion. The novel is divided into three sections, each covering a period in Francis Marion Tarwater's journey of spiritual self-discovery.

The title of the novel is taken from Matthew 11:12. At the beginning of Matthew 11, Jesus preaches to the multitudes about the prophet John the Baptist, who he says will not wear "soft robes" or preach a gentle message. Christ then says, in the verse that provides the novel's epigraph: "From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away." There have been two interpretations of the verse. The first says that, since the time of John the Baptist and Christ's ministry, the kingdom of heaven has been advancing forcefully, and the "violent," meaning the eager, ardent multitudes of godly men, will take it by force—displaying their strength through action. The implication is that the faithful will one day attain the kingdom of heaven. Another interpretation is that unbelievers, such as Pharisees (the "violent" in this case) try to undermine the work done by Christ and John the Baptist, doing violence to the kingdom of God in this way. In the novel, both of these interpretations are explored, and the conflict surrounds the attitudes of the believer and the skeptic, the faithful and the godless, as they battle for young Francis Marion Tarwater's soul.

There are numerous instances of violence throughout the novel: kidnappings, a shooting, a drowning, arson, and a rape. Violence is never glorified, but it is used to shock readers into understanding the seriousness of the religious subjects being explored. The drowning of Bishop, for example, draws into relief the intense nature of baptism that for many has become something of a trivial rite. The rape of Tarwater by the stranger underscores in a brutal way the violation of his soul by the devil. O'Connor uses violence repeatedly in her novel to emphasize that religion is not soft or pretty, that God's will is sometimes frightening, and that ordinary human moral standards cannot be applied when it comes to understanding God and his ways.

The obvious subject of The Violent Bear It Away is Francis Tarwater's passage to self-realization and his spiritual awakening. Images of roads, paths, cars, boats, and travel figure prominently in the novel to underscore this important theme. In each of the three parts of the book, Tarwater travels, first from Powderhead to the city, then within the city (to a revival meeting, to a museum) and to the Cherokee Lodge, and finally back to Powderhead. He has various guides along his journey: his great-uncle, who tries to lead him down the difficult path to redemption; Rayber, who wants life's journey to be predictable and devoid of feeling; and other incarnations of the devil who try to steer him away from his goal and off the path of righteousness. It is significant that Tarwater is born in a car wreck, that three of the incarnations of the devil that tempt him are drivers, and that in the end it is his own shadow in the moonlight that "clears a rough path toward his goal." The journey to God, it is seen, is no easy one. O'Connor's exploration of this theme presents her unique, grotesque vision of the beauty and terror of the divine.
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Jan 17, 2010 Boris rated it 4 of 5 stars

The born again Protestants do not come out looking too good in this tense and scary novel. Its main character, Francis Tarwater, a fourteen year old boy orphaned at birth when his parents were killed in a car wreck, was kidnapped by his great uncle and brought up on a farm in the deep woods of Tennessee. Think of Heidi except the Grandfather is a crazed religious fanatic who feels it his destiny to prophesy about Jesus and baptize as many people as he can get his hands on. When he dies sitting...more The born again Protestants do not come out looking too good in this tense and scary novel. Its main character, Francis Tarwater, a fourteen year old boy orphaned at birth when his parents were killed in a car wreck, was kidnapped by his great uncle and brought up on a farm in the deep woods of Tennessee. Think of Heidi except the Grandfather is a crazed religious fanatic who feels it his destiny to prophesy about Jesus and baptize as many people as he can get his hands on. When he dies sitting at the breakfast table, the boy burns down the house. It's easier than burying him.

Young Tarwater hitches a ride to the city to live with his uncle, Rayber, from whom he had been stolen years before. The uncle is a school teacher who has totally rejected the born again religion. Don't you know that he has been totally messed up, i.e. baptized, by the old dead guy as well. The school teacher uncle sets out to civilize the boy. Think Tom Sawyer except backwards. Civilizing is defined as teaching Frank that he doesn't have to go around Baptizing everybody he meets especially the imbecile five year old son the schoolteacher was left with when his wife abandoned him.

First sentence: "FRANCIS MARION TARWATER'S uncle had been dead for only half a day when the boy got too drunk to finish digging his grave and a Negro named Buford Munson, who had come to get a jug filled, had to finish it and drag the body from the breakfast table where it was still sitting and bury it in a decent and Christian way, with the sign of its Savior at the head of the grave and enough dirt on top to keep the dogs from digging it up." (Wow)

The schoolteacher is the Hamlet here. "You didn't have the guts. He always told me you couldn't do nothing, couldn't act." The boy is the anti-Hamlet. He is compelled to act and he does. He was taught by the master, the old man.
Check out the old man: "It was me could act, not him. He could never take action. He could only get everything inside his head and grind it to nothing. But I acted. And because I acted, you sit here in freedom, you sit here a rich man, knowing the Truth, in the freedom of the Lord Jesus Christ."

some good writing: "The sky was a hollow black, and an empty road of moonlight crossed the lake."
"He leaned over the side of the boat and shuddered. The column, released, formed a sweetly sour circle on the water. A wave of dizziness came over him and his head cleared." (Best description of a puke I have ever read.)

This book has: water, thirst, hunger,

Bad things happen in this book. Mostly not until the end though. And not the things you expect to happen.

Last sentence: "His singed eyes, black in their deep sockets, seemed already to envision the fate that awaited him but he moved steadily on, his face set toward the dark city, where the children of God lay sleeping."
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Jan 19, 2009 Judy Vasseur rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

If you ever wondered why there’s no humor in the Bible or death, Flannery O'Connor found plenty. Masterful writing. Every sentence constructed like a precision instrument.

During his adolescent expectancy of bombastic biblical beckoning and reckoning, young Tarwater veers wildly between the mad extremes of seduction and dissent. He waits for a sign...maybe a burning bush, thunderous voice, or being swallowed and vomited by a whale.

Hilarious examination of religious symbolism. To the 14 year old t...more

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May 24, 2010 Heather Crabill rated it 5 of 5 stars

Reading Flannery O'Conner for the first time (Wise Blood, The Violent Bear it Away) has allowed me to come to the conclusion that she was truly one of the South's greatest writers. You often hear about Faulkner as being sort of the official bearer of that title (perhaps I am wrong here; if so, I apologize), however, in my opinion, Flannery blows Faulkner out of the water.

The Violent is a book by an author who once wrote about the "protestant haunted South." A Roman Catholic from Georgia, her wo...more

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Feb 14, 2013 Janet Gardner rated it 4 of 5 stars

Like everyone else, I love Flannery O’Connor’s short stories, but somehow I only just got around to reading this novel. (Full disclosure of my shallowness: I think I’ve been avoiding it because I didn’t like the title. Now I’ve read the book, and I still don’t like the title, or even understand it, to be honest.) It’s the story of fourteen-year-old Francis Tarwater, orphaned in infancy and brought up in the backwoods of Tennessee by his great-uncle, an intolerant curmudgeon of the first order an...more

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Dec 07, 2012 Jillian rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ots-challenge, own

A horrid story told beautifully, peopled with mistreated characters who are generally too unlikeable to be properly pitied. I'm reminded of Faulkner and Hardy, in that I appreciate O'Connor's talent, insights, and striking imagery but wish that she had chosen a less abhorrent story to tell.

"It was a strange waiting silence. It seemed to lie all around him like an invisible country whose borders he was always in danger of crossing. From time to time as they had walked in the city, he had looked t...more

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Jul 17, 2012 Richard rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012

What if I told you that the best book I've read this year was what can only be described as a "Southern Gothic metaphysical thriller"? What if I told you that all of the characters in this book are repulsive, low-down, cold-hearted, cruel? And that the plot involved death, arson, murder, rape, and insanity?

And if I told you that it's a Christian book?

You'd roll your eyes and reach for an easy summer read. That's what you'd do.

Now wait a second.

Any serious reader should read "The Violent Bear It...more

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Oct 10, 2010 Ryan rated it 3 of 5 stars

I certainly liked this more than her first novel, Wise Blood, but it still doesn’t come close to her short stories. All her work centers around religious themes, symbolism, and overall message; but whereas her short stories seem to be universal enough to encompass all ways of living, expose hypocrisy, and present a more satisfying awakening for the characters, I think that her novels present more of a “bash-you-over-the-head” format with characters names, plot devices, and overall narratives lea...more I certainly liked this more than her first novel, Wise Blood, but it still doesn’t come close to her short stories. All her work centers around religious themes, symbolism, and overall message; but whereas her short stories seem to be universal enough to encompass all ways of living, expose hypocrisy, and present a more satisfying awakening for the characters, I think that her novels present more of a “bash-you-over-the-head” format with characters names, plot devices, and overall narratives leaving nothing to the imagination.

The characters (in Wise Blood as well) are prophets, everyone is “blind” and/or “hungry”, everyone is clear-cut in their religious views where they either speak adamantly against religion or prophecy blatantly for it. My biggest criticism of this novel is that – as opposed to her short stories where hypocrisy is vilified at the end, the prophets are incorrectly preaching the message, and the overwhelming desire to save the ones who refuse to be converted are later shown to be neglecting the ones closest to them and in greater need – here it appears that the lunatics and the radicals are portrayed as being “the ones who get it.” The insane great-uncle (who repeatedly tries to kidnap relatives to baptize them, who shoots people trying to retrieve their own kin, who seems to be the type from O’Connor’s short stories who are the hypocritical and manipulated misled) turns out to be the one who was correct in his ridiculous prophecies. The logical uncle (who feels that children are brainwashed at an early age where they have no real understanding of the world, who makes it his mission to present a balanced view of the world, who continues to feel love for his mentally handicapped son and care for him despite his wife’s abandonment) is supposed to be viewed as the evil one, the devil, and who doesn’t end up feeling the presence of God at any point – again, much in contrast to how O’Connor would probably resolve his character in a short story. I’m all about Good vs. Evil symbolism, and I see that it’s set up to portray the inner battle waging in each of us as everyone searches for meaning, to still “the hunger” inside, but why are the “Good Guys” in this story the ones who kidnap others and forcefully perform religious rites against their views and wishes? Our “hero” becomes a prophet at the end, just like his great-uncle prophesized he would – but what does that show? That the lunatic great-uncle – who kidnapped him and kept him secluded in the woods for 14 years until he couldn’t take it any more, who couldn’t walk down the streets without staring at a loaf of bread (the bread of life) in a store window without recalling his early teachings – was justified?

The book read a lot smoother than Wise Blood, and there was more of a cohesive story that unfolded throughout, rather than focusing on patched-together chapters focusing on “the bizarre” that seemed to lose the central thread. And she definitely displays a mastery of style with her symbolism, her descriptions (rich Gothic writing!), and her message. It is clear to see who she feels have the right view on life and who doesn’t. I’m sure that she intended this not as a realistic portrayal of people and their actions but more as a allegory of Faith vs. Reason, the blind and those who see, The Word vs. The World – but as a testament of the experience we all share on this planet, I just don’t think it captures Truth as well as she thinks it does.
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Nov 03, 2007 Jesse rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: her, us

When I read Wise Blood and found myself let down by (and making premature assumptions about) O'Connor-the-novelist, I didn't realize that her two longer works were separated by eight years. On the Flannery O'Connor timeline, that's practically a lifetime. In The Violent Bear It Away, O'Connor treats similar themes and characters to those that were so static and lifeless in Wise Blood and, in her advanced wisdom, gives them actual blood.

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About Flannery O'Connor

Mary Flannery O'Connor was an American novelist, short-story writer and essayist. O'Connor's writing often reflected her own Roman Catholic faith, and frequently examined questions of morality and ethics.

Her The Complete Stories received the 1972 National Book Award for Fiction. In a 2009 online poll conducted by the National Book Foundation, the collection was named the best work to have won the...more

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Books by Flannery O'Connor

A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories

Collected Works: Wise Blood / A Good Man is Hard to Find / The Violent Bear it Away / Everything that Rises Must Converge / Essays and Letters (Library of America #39)

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Quotes from The Violent Bear it Away

“You have to quit confusing a madness with a mission.” — 12 people liked it

“He knew that he was the stuff of which fanatics and madmen are made and that he had turned his destiny as if with his bare will. He kept himself upright on a very narrow line between madness and emptiness and when the time came for him to lose his balance he intended to lurch toward emptiness and fall on the side of his choice.” — 6 people liked it

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