Tarwater

Francis Marion Tarwater, most frequently referred to throughout Fallery O’Connor’s novel “The Violent Bear It Away” is a fourteen year-old boy who serves as the book’s central character. He is neither protagonist nor antagonist, though at times he does fall into one category or the other. Born following a car accident which kills his mother and his grandparents, Tarwater is taken to live with his uncle, Rayber, in the city. At the same time, Rayber’s own uncle, Tarwater’s great-uncle, Marion, lives with them as well. Marion, a firebrand Christian, becomes enraged that he becomes the center of a disparaging article Rayber has written, and so he leaves with the baby Tarwater to raise him in the backwoods at the old family property, Powderhead.

Marion raises Tarwater with the belief that Tarwater will become a prophet for God, as Marion himself as been. Tarwater...