Reading the masterpiece: Flannery OConnor's The Temple of the Holy Spirit.

O 'Connor lived in the United States about 100 years ago and was a devout Christian. No matter the age of life, the age of faith, or the literary attribute of that era, it is far from today's era. Without understanding some basic concepts, it is difficult to understand this short story with only over 8,000 words from the beginning.

The article tells a seemingly ordinary story in life. After reading it for the first time, I was a little confused and didn't quite understand the meaning of the novel. The story didn't move me, but the behavior of the characters always made me feel a little out of common sense.

Since there is no basic knowledge in this field, let's start with the study of background knowledge.

The word "Temple of the Holy Spirit" comes from 1 Corinthians 6: 19, which is the seventh volume of the New Testament and the second letter written by the apostle Paul for many Corinthians. It is included in the collection of Paul's letters in the New Testament, and the first previous letter has been lost.

The theme of 1 Corinthians is Christ and the cross, which is the answer to all the difficulties of the church. Written in the first century A.D., this book discusses many spiritual and moral difficulties of the church and shows the challenges the church faces in the degenerate pagan society.

There are many versions of the explanation of "the temple of the holy spirit", and the most understandable general meaning is translated as "don't you know that your body is the temple of the holy spirit?" The Holy Spirit comes from God and dwells in you. You're not one of your own. "

By extension, it means "you should escape from lewdness." No matter what crime a person commits, it is a crime outside the body; Only adulterers will offend their bodies. "

Knowing the background of this keyword, our understanding of the religious level will be much clearer.

Then, I went to inquire about the background knowledge of the author O 'Connor.

Flannery OConnor was born in Savannah, Georgia, USA. Graduated from Georgia Women's College and the University of Iowa, he believes in Catholicism, is an American novelist, short story writer and critic, and is an important spokesman for American literature.

This southern writer, who has only lived for 39 years, has a southern Gothic style and relies heavily on regional background and grotesque characters. O 'Connor's works also reflect her Roman Catholic beliefs, and often examine moral and ethical issues.

Knowing this background knowledge, I opened the novel again and reread it slowly. Feeling, the previous astringency and incomprehension are no longer troubled, and the ideas presented in the novel are more and more clear. The most prominent feature in the style of southern Gothic novels is "grotesque", which finally explains the "discomfort" brought to me by the first reading.

Let's interpret this work by asking questions.

The narrative perspective of this novel is quite special, leading the main line of the story through "God's perspective", but starting from the "limited knowledge perspective" of a 12-year-old girl, a lot of psychological descriptions, feeling the surroundings from the perspective of "children" and reflective analysis have "lifted up" the whole novel.

Different from the ordinary "limited perspective", although the little girl dominates the trend of the whole article, the word "I" has never appeared, while the word "child" has been used all the time, and it is still the third person from beginning to end.

It seems that there is an observer or camera hiding behind the text from beginning to end. He captures everyone's behavior in the story, then aims at the heart of the "child" and interprets it through her.

In my previous writing experience, I have always been inclined to "limited perspective", especially "first person", and expressing my thoughts and ideas clearly in details is my favorite way.

However, it has never been written in such an intricate way that we can "see" the facts and "see" the thoughts. This may be another reason why I find it hard to accept reading for the first time.

This novel explores serious religious topics through a little girl. In the world of adults (including boys and girls who are about to enter adulthood), the meaning of religion has two levels. One aspect involves true faith, no matter how deep it is, it will still touch people's hearts; On the other hand, it is much more superficial, just a curtain that flaunts itself and social morality, which will be opened at any time and stay.

But in the eyes of children, it is impossible to understand the logical relationship and weight ratio between these two layers. That's why there are so many questions, reflections, anxiety and anger until the epiphany.

Such a contrast, if changed to a fixed perspective, will certainly be difficult to take into account, or let the little girl's confusion also bother readers, or wonder why the little girl is so "rebellious and strange." This is my superficial understanding of writing from two angles.

I'm not sure if I will try this method in my future writing. Just because you can understand its brilliance doesn't mean you can really master it. The cognition of this world will change with one's own knowledge accumulation, iteration and thinking, and so will the reading of literature. Learning to appreciate is the first step.

The whole novel has four main periods, all of which are fragments of daily life.

First of all, when Susan and Joanne first arrived, the little girl's family, including Miss Kirby, a teacher who lives at home, had dinner together. The little girl's mother doesn't know how to arrange the holiday life of two distant nieces. The little girl seems to be helping, but in fact she is playing tricks on purpose, which obviously highlights her unique and arrogant character.

At this time, in order to control the situation, the little girl's mother led the topic to "Temple A" and "Temple B". Susan and Joanne continued to laugh and described the nuns' teaching in a sarcastic and thoughtless tone. Obviously, they don't understand the meaning at all, and they lack the minimum respect and piety. Their frivolity and lack of education caused the unhappiness of the little girl's mother and Miss Kobe.

At the same time, the little girl pondered the meaning of this sentence in her mind and vaguely felt, "I am the temple of the Holy Spirit, and she especially likes this sentence. This made her feel that someone gave her a gift. " As for how to know this gift more clearly, the little girl doesn't know either.

In fact, in the whole process of children learning knowledge, the theory must be based on sensibility. Therefore, the younger children need to learn concepts through more vivid and interesting stories. Although religion permeates the details of life, it is difficult to understand, especially for growing children.

The words "Temple of the Holy Spirit" are full of sacredness even if they don't know the specific meaning, which should be the initial reason for the little girl's shock.

Secondly, the story advances to the next scene, which is the visit of Wendell and Corey, who are also not very clever. The little girl may just think of the two men next door, while the little girl's mother is because they are relatively "safe".

So, four boys and girls met. As expected, both sides were attracted by their appearance and showed their knowledge. Sadly, however, there is no heartfelt admiration and worship for "Jesus" in the songs of the two brothers, just to win the favor of girls.

And these two sisters are even worse. They tried to perform hymns "solemnly" with the vocals they learned in the monastery, but they didn't realize that they had no sacred attitude at all. Perhaps because of the different doctrines, the two teenagers couldn't understand the lyrics at all, and finally guessed that they heard Jewish songs.

The little girl who looks on coldly can't stand the stupidity of these four heads. She left angrily and refused to have dinner with them.

Obviously, she is not a generous child, a little sensitive, and can't find a reason to explain her anger. Perhaps subconsciously, her heart is pure and is the temple of the Holy Spirit. So I hate people putting on airs and blaspheming faith because they are superficial.

Thirdly, in such an atmosphere of disappointing the little girl, she refused their invitation to go to the market together and stayed at home alone. Although deep down, she is still eager to go out. After all, she is just a child.

Such a decision, on the one hand, satisfied her, because she adhered to the principle, but on the other hand, made her feel a little lost, so her face would show a grumpy and trance expression.

Next, the author spent a long time describing the inner world of the little girl.

It can be seen that she is imaginative and has a paranoid criticism of herself, which stems from her frankness and keenness, but it obviously conflicts with the moral coat of this society. Therefore, she will have a tragic mood of self-sacrifice.

Then two cousins came back from the market. Although their conversation was flat or even vulgar most of the time, they said, "I had a good time except that." It immediately caught the little girl's attention.

Although she is young, there should be many older children who are infinitely curious about "sex" and related things. The little girl grasped the information and tried to find out the truth.

Sure enough, two older girls are very interested in rabbits giving birth to rabbits. Childbirth is the result of sex, and young girls like them want to know. Exchange is to tell the story of the deformed man who is both a man and a woman.

The following long description seems dull, but it implies the cruelty of this world.

Being born disabled is a crime. Not only can you not live normally, but you have to live by showing your deformed sex organs to the world. The onlookers have picturesque eyes. The men are more serious than in the church. The women are serious and dignified. They say "Amen" in their mouths, but their hearts are full of curiosity about deformed things, abnormal curiosity, and perhaps contempt, disgust and superior arrogance.

The little girl doesn't understand what kind of deformity the so-called combination of men and women is. For her, what shocked her was the last trace of self-esteem that the deformed man tried to maintain. "I am the temple of the Holy Spirit." Saying such a sacred sentence from the mouth of a deformed man made the little girl relive it until she fell asleep.

Finally, the next afternoon, the two older girls need to go back to the monastery. The little girl and her mother not only sent them back, but also entered the chapel to attend the prayer ceremony.

There are many little girls' psychological descriptions in this part, from confused thoughts at the beginning, to confessing to God and praying for forgiveness, to slowly calming down and feeling the sacredness of prayer, until the last ceremony, she suddenly remembered the deformed man's words, "I won't resist. He wants me to generate this. "

Perhaps, the little girl suddenly realized that no matter how "different" a person looks, whether he is poor, humble or even ugly, no matter how suspicious and dissatisfied a person is with the world, or even "harboring evil thoughts", he is his subject in the eyes of God, and the Holy Spirit should live in everyone's heart.

As a rebellious, unfriendly and maverick, the little girl's heart is actually painful. She doesn't understand the stupidity of people around her. She is still mean and hostile, but she also feels confused and guilty. She has a persistent pursuit of martyrdom.

Therefore, in a sense, she is also a "freak", a special person who does not seek common causes with the secular.

Now, in this atmosphere, she began to understand the meaning of "the temple of the Holy Spirit". God's love is unconditional. As long as his subjects are sincere, this is true faith.

At the end of the article, she is disappointed that the market is banned, because her heart has accepted the sacred will, even if she or others are not perfect, it is worthy of respect. But why do those so-called gentlemen and moral guardians do the opposite?

With the setting of the communion-like blood-red sun, there is still a red line hanging in the air. Is it difficult to pursue faith? Does it mean that true faith is difficult and far away? More understanding is left to readers.

As a little girl who is only 12 years old, her inner monologue is quite wonderful.

First of all, she is extremely honest and never dares to express her truest thoughts about people or things around her. Although these obvious unfriendly, let her appear out of line, rude and unpleasant, but she doesn't want to hide.

When she refused to eat with others, the cook said, "God will make you deaf and blind, so you won't be as smart as you are now."

The little girl responded without hesitation: "Then I am smarter than some people."

In her eyes, honesty is more important than other qualities. She would rather play dumb than be as hypocritical as others. I believe that most people can't do this, especially adults.

Secondly, she is very upset. I am worried about my intelligence, my thinking and critical attitude towards everything in the world, the stupidity of people around me and the "calmness" of accepting secular ideas. She doesn't understand the vulgarity of these young men and women who are bent on pursuing the favor of the opposite sex. She doesn't understand how they don't have any understanding and admiration for sacred religions.

But she still feels distressed, because "pride" is also a sin, and it is difficult to get God's forgiveness. Because of pride, it is difficult for her to keep her proper manners, which means lying, which is another form of crime.

So she has so many "strange" ideas, and even has an unspeakable longing for death, just like those saints who endure extreme pain but are devout martyrs. In the eyes of the little girl, this may be the most beautiful, heroic and most suitable behavior for her character.

Third, she also likes to reflect, is curious about the world and is quite sensitive to everything. On the road of exploring faith, people around you, whether good or bad, whether their actions are correct or hypocritical or naive, can arouse the little girl's deep thinking.

A simple "temple of the Holy Spirit" has been heard several times, but it was never said by the same person. Different people explained and used it to make her think. She is really smart and honest. These qualities make her mature beyond her age and let her see the truth or hypocrisy around her.

What shocked me most in this novel was the control of the characters. The description of the child's psychology must conform to her age characteristics, but it should not be too naive.

A precocious and intelligent girl 12 years old, the difficulty of her psychological control can be imagined. The author is obviously cautious and bold with her. I wonder, was the author herself 12 such a maverick girl?

Writing is a fictional description of the real world. The real novel world is not a rigid restatement of the real world, and the fictional novel world must be the epitome and projection of the real world. It is difficult to master such skills.

Many times, I hesitate when writing, but I am not proficient at this level. I'm afraid that the person I write is rigid and soulless, and I'm afraid that this person is illusory and divorced from the value of existence.

This novel has given me a lot of insights in these aspects. Reading classics and reading them carefully really benefited a lot.

In my opinion, there are two obvious aspects of the little girl's change, and these two aspects are also interactive and indispensable.

In the first half of the novel, the little girl's character is quite sharp and even a little rude. Although she is very clever, and her knowledge and understanding of things are beyond her age, precocity will only make her more sharp-edged, more demanding and more independent.

For the people around you, all likes and dislikes are on your face. She never hides her true feelings and doesn't care about others' embarrassment.

She openly laughed at the vulgarity and ignorance of her two distant cousins. Not only did she refuse to eat with them and go to the market together, but she even said bluntly, "Although I am not as old as you, I am a million times smarter than you."

As for Miss Kirby, a teacher who lives at home, she did not hesitate to play a trick on her suitor, Mr. Chitham, calling him a "liar", laughing until she lost her dignity and embarrassed the other party.

In the monastery, she refused the nun who wanted to hug her, just held out her hand and frowned coldly. I'm afraid it's hard for such a girl to make others feel comfortable and get love from others.

However, at the end of the story, she suddenly realized the generosity and kindness of God, and after feeling the powerful power of faith, her whole person changed. Become calm, tolerant and less arbitrary.

So she accepted another nun's hug. When she heard that the Expo was banned, she was only disappointed, instead of immediately commenting and accusing. Instead, she looked out of the window, calmed down and let herself really start to mature.

These changes, from arrogance to calmness, from picky to tolerant, from impetuous to quiet performance, all seem to be quite huge. So, what are the reasons behind these behavioral changes? That is another aspect and a deeper change, that is, the sublimation of belief.

Through the freak incident, she kept reflecting, asking questions and talking to herself in her mind. The last epiphany made her suddenly enlightened. The previous ambivalence and the resulting overreaction and guilt no longer bothered her. She finally accepted her uniqueness, opened her mind more and accepted the world with a higher level of understanding.

When I was growing up, I was hardly influenced by any religion. Even after living in Australia, a Catholic country for more than ten years, I never thought about relying on any religion.

As an atheist, I have never paid special attention to the topic of religion, although it has occupied an extremely important position in the long history of mankind.

However, when I saw the word faith, I realized that although I am an atheist, I have a firm belief.

I always thought that in the depths of my soul, there was a god living there. It is everywhere, telling me to be a noble person. This is actually my "Temple of the Holy Spirit".

The author of this novel, O 'Connor, is a Catholic. She lives in an era when religion can influence people relatively. It is natural to express her understanding and reflection on faith in the novel. Faith is a part of life and concerns everyone. Then, if we discuss it in the form of novels, we can understand it well.

But the author's attitude towards faith is not pure worship, let alone blind worship. What she presents to readers is more serious and profound criticism and thinking.

Through the thinking of a 12-year-old girl, we can more clearly see the essential difference between pure and sincere beliefs and hypocritical metaphysical beliefs, which is the essence of this novel.

The times we live in are changing rapidly, and various rapidly developing technologies are forming a huge whirlpool. We are involved in it and are spinning all the time. Look at the clutter on the internet and everyone who is actually involved in it, although they seem to sneer at it. Isn't this like those hypocritical gentlemen in the article?

Every era has its own characteristics, and the position of faith in the human world has never changed. As a writer, thinking and analyzing from a higher angle is not limited to what you see and hear, then the connotation and value of your works will be different.

I hope I can remember my understanding of this novel and think more about it in my future writing, and then I will feel at ease.

I am disappointed, even extremely disappointed!

As the only child in my family, I am used to being alone, but I think most children still expect to have a playmate of the same age occasionally. What's more, this time two sisters came at once, who are also my distant cousins. It should not be naive to expect them.

However, their every move makes me unbearable. They 14 years old, living in a temple, are actually shaking and laughing, and call each other Temple A and Temple B.

From the moment they entered the door, they changed themselves into short skirts and flowered shirts, put on lipstick, stood on high heels and wriggled in front of the mirror. It seems that they have never seen anything more worthy of appreciation than their two thighs.

I sighed and just wanted to disappear from the room. No wonder my mother said that they were not smart enough to go to an ordinary middle school and had to be sent to a monastery. In my opinion, they are not only not smart enough, but also 100% idiots.

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