Point of View

Flannery O'Connor writes predominantly in the third person, and can take the reader into the mind of the characters with ease, using their internal dialogue to further the plot progress and give the reader the sights, sounds, and smells of the world she is writing about. Flashbacks are often used to catch the reader up to the present, where the character first appears in the story; she does this with finesse and ease, exposing the reader to her exceptional ability to vanish as a conscious presence and let the stories take on a life of their own.

O'Connor writes from the point of view of each character she develops, so the reader comes to understand the thought patterns of the character and believes in the validity of the person. For example, in "Good Country People," the story opens in the third person and carefully eases into...