The River

3 Pages 783 Words

Flannery O’Connor’s “The River”: A Story of Faith?


Flannery O’Connor’s story “The River” is a story of faith. The main character of the story is a young boy whose real name is Harry Ashfield. Although his real name is Harry he tells people his name is Bevel. Bevel is introduced to Christianity by Mrs. Connin, who is a babysitter that his parents have hired to take care of him. “The River” is about Bevel and his exploration of religious faith. This story is a good example that a person who is a little devil and has no religious background can change his beliefs and start to have faith in god.
Bevel is a joker and is used to living everything out as a joke, almost nothing is of a serious matter to him. Bevel does not come from a religious family. In matter of fact it is said that, “If he had thought about it before, he would have thought Jesus Christ was a word like ‘oh’ or ‘damm’ or ‘God’ or maybe somebody.” (160). It can be seen that he did not even have any religious background and no knowledge of a god existing. His family becomes angry with Mrs. Connin when she told them that he was baptized. But thanks to Mrs. Connin, Bevel acquires some faith and returns to the river to try to find the Kingdom of Christ. Mrs. Connin’s introduction of Christianity to Bevel was successful because he went from having no faith to returning to the river that he was baptized at. The baptism performed by the preacher prepares us for the last scene of the story. The baptism taken place in the river and Bevel’s search of the kingdom of Christ brings him back to the river which leads to his death.
The final scene of the story is a puzzle because it is not clear what exactly happens to Bevel, but it can be taken that he drowned in the river. This is a horror because Bevel wanted to find the Kingdom of Christ that the preacher said was in the river. Because of what the preacher said, Bevel returned to the river...