Character Analysis of Hazel Motes in Wise Blood by Flannery O'Conner Essay

Literary element analysisWise Blood illustrates the final days of an intense truth-seeking character named Hazel Motes. Hazel is introduced to the reader as a train passenger on his way to begin a new phase in his life, doing things he has never done before. He is described as a war world 2 soldiers who was discharged for unspecified wounds. It is later hinted in the story he may have inflicted the wounds on himself in order to be released. He came home from the war to find his home decomposing and abandoned. All that remained of his family was a collection of haunting memories and a robe that he puts a note on threatening to kill anybody who steals it. One memory that was still fresh in his brain was that of his circuit-preaching grandfather. The old man preached a Jesus who chased men down like criminals and redeemed sinners against their will. Hazel believed that he could escape Jesus by avoiding sin, until the day he convinced himself sin was nonexistent. This drastic shift in thought was eluded to have taken place while he was serving in the army. Throughout the body of Wise Blood, Hazel's one desire is to manifest his unbelief in a radically blasphemous lifestyle. He commences his time in the city of Taulkinham by sleeping with a prostitute, not for enjoyment, but simply to pile up alleged sins while asserting his inward cleanliness to himself and to the world. Hazel meets some important characters during his time on the street. The first is a pitiful eighteen-year-old named Enoch Emery, in search of love and kindness. Enoch lives compulsively, controlled by the "wise blood" coursing through his veins. While evading Enoch, Hazel follows the town's blind preacher, Asa Hawks. Asa Hawks is later revealed to be a petty criminal, preaching for money when he is not even blind. His illegitimate daughter, Sabbath, mistakes the intensity in Hazel's face as the capacity...