"The Geranium" is the first in this collection of thirty-one stories. O'Connor writes from the point of view of Old Dudley, an aged father of a woman from the South, now living in a depressing walk-up apartment in New York City. Old Dudley's observations of his "new world" are written through dialect and as internal dialogue. O'Connor reveals her feelings about racism in a period of upheaval in the country at that time, as resentments and adjustments by both whites and blacks are becoming more and more common.
Old Dudley's longing for "home" is poignant and vivid; he sits for hours watching a red geranium in a pot on the windowsill of an apartment across the alley way, worrying that the sun is too hot for it and that it needs water. O'Connor's genius.....
This is a free excerpt of 135 words. This section contains 657 words. This
study guide contains 25,168 words (approx. 84 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Literature Guide with our The Complete Stories of Flannery O'Connor Access Pass.
