Wise Blood (1952) Flannery O’Connor’s first novel is a darkly comic Southern Gothic about belief, disbelief, and the human search for redemption. Hazel Motes, a 22-year-old war veteran, returns to his hometown in Tennessee disillusioned and angry at religion. Determined to reject his preacher grandfather’s faith, he founds the “Church Without Christ,” a mock religion that denies sin and salvation. Yet Hazel cannot escape the pull of grace: his every action—buying a broken-down car, pursuing the cynical street preacher Hoover Shoats, confronting a false “prophet” who imitates him—reveals his obsession with Christ even in denial. The novel’s grotesque characters, violent incidents, and bleak humour dramatize O’Connor’s theme that grace works through unlikely means and cannot be outrun. By the end, Hazel’s self-imposed penance leads to a mysterious, painful form of sanctity. Wise Blood blends satire and spiritual seriousness, establishing O’Connor’s signature style of violent epiphany in the modern South.
