#Blessed

In the midst of the pool of social media we slush through each day, we’ve seen the notorious "#blessed" hashtag. As I read O’Connor’s A Circle in the Fire I could not help thinking of this “Christianese” saying. Here again, I think O’Connor challenges the Church much like she does in many of her other works. Mrs. Cope is so thankful for all she has, but is at the same time fiercely protective. O’Connor seems to question if Cope’s thankfulness is a humble appreciation or an unhealthy attachment.

Mrs. Cope is indeed “blessed”. She has a successful farm with land, farm hands and a comfortable home. Unfortunately I think many American Christians might see their own reflection in Mrs. Cope. We may have wants, but our needs are met. Americans own property that they “worked hard” for, and they fiercely protect their property as their rights allow them to. Mrs. Cope commented on her own work ethic saying, “I have the best kept place in the country and do you know why? Because I work. I’ve had to work to save this place and work to keep it” (235). She is very proud of the fruit of her work and makes sure she prays every night thanking God for it.

   

While working for a goal is admirable, she seems a little caught up on her occupation, “I don’t let anything get ahead of me and I’m not always looking for trouble. I take it as it comes” (235). Though she says she doesn’t look for trouble, the rest of the text seems to prove her wrong. Continually she is on the lookout for a fire in her woods. Her paranoia is only stirred and agitated by her young visitors. Their cigarette buds make her shudder as she secretly hopes they’ll go home.

Mrs. Cope does what every good southern woman should do; she welcomes the boys to her home and offers them food. When they ask to stay, she allows them to stay, but is soon irritated (for good reasons) by their rude behavior. She struggles with her piety as she deals with her fears. Her sense of fear grows as the boys stay longer.

In the end the boys start a fire in the woods and O’Connor closes saying, “ She stood taut, listening, and could just catch in the distance a few wild high shrieks of joy as if the prophets were dancing in the fiery furnace, in the circle the angel cleared for them” (251). It seems that the pesky boys could be seen as prophets who have come to burn away Mrs. Cope’s attachment to her property.