The Action of Grace in Territory Held by the Devil: Flannery O’Connor and Cormac McCarthy

This paper compares the lives and work of Flannery O’Connor and Cormac McCarthy. The two authors share similarities in their backgrounds, careers, and work. The paper begins with an examination of biographical information of both authors to contextualize their work and note commonalities in their lives and careers. The central idea is that Flannery O’Connor and Cormac McCarthy both create grotesque characters to reveal the depraved condition of humanity in order to highlight the need for redemption and the possibility of divine grace. To prove this, examples are discussed from multiple pieces of work by O’Connor and McCarthy including The Misfit, from O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” and Anton Chigurh, from McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men. Following this is a review of the visual presentation of No Country for Old Men through the Coen brothers’ film adaptation of the novel