ENGL 4310

I’ve noticed a pattern.

The first sentence in The Displaced Person is, “The peacock was following Mrs. Shortley up the road to the hill where she meant to stand.”

The first one in The Life You Save May Be Your Own is, “The Old Woman and her daughter were sitting on their porch when Mr. Shiftlet came up their road for the first time.”

The first sentence in Parker’s Back: “Parker’s wife was sitting on the front porch floor, snapping beans.”

A Good Man Is Hard To Find: “The Grandmother didn’t want to go to Florida.”

The Artificial Nigger: “Mr. Head awakened to discover that the room was full of moonlight.”

The Crop: “Miss Wellerton always crumbed the table.”

A Late Encounter with the Enemy: “General Sash was a hundred and four years old.”

The Violent Bear It Away: “Francis Marion Tarwater’s uncle had been dead…”

Greenleaf: “Mrs. May’s bedroom window was low and faced on the east…”

Wise Blood: “Hazel Motes sat at a forward angle…”

Judgment Day: “Tanner was conserving all his strength…”

The Geranium: “Old Dudley folded into the chair…”

The Lame Shall Enter First: “Sheppard sat on a stool…”

A Stroke of Good Fortune: “Ruby came in the front door…”

The Enduring Chill: “Asbury’s train…”

The Comforts of Home: “Thomas withdrew…”

The Partridge Festival: “Calhoun parked…"

28 stories. 17 with a name as the first word(s). 6 more with a character named in the first sentence. There is one that starts out with pure description.

So I’m thinking, what does this mean for Flannery O’Connor? Does this mean that she got into a rut on how to start a story? Does this mean that the setting and/or the themes are really secondary to her characters? Does this mean that she focuses on the characters? I got a little obsessed with this idea last night and Sara helped me go through 12-ish books of short stories (anthologies and collections). The verdict is that a little over half started out with a sentence naming a main character. That was sobering. I actually thought the number would be a lot lower, but it still doesn’t disprove anything. I still maintain that O’Connor starts her stories out with what is most important to her: her characters.

Maybe because of my experience with theatre, my mind reads for characters—what they say, their direct actions, and their settings are what are important to me. But I don’t really concern myself with a history of general characters or the beauty of a sunset… unless Mr. Shiftlet is standing in front of it with his arms raised in a twisted cross.

Because of blessed undergrad work, I am familiar with science and psychology and such, and I realized that there might be a bias in play in my late-night study. I know that I am more compelled to like stories that are character-centered, hence there would be resting on my bookshelf.

So, I am pretty sure I have a bias toward writers who would start out their stories with “Ms. Suzie Mae…”. One of these days, I would be interested to just go scan the library shelves and read first sentences (a wonderfully entertaining activity on its own) to look for main characters’ mention in the first sentence. But even still, I think Flannery O’Connor is an exception to that. I mean, come on, 82% of her stories name a main character in the first sentence. 82% is a big percent.