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Blasphemy In Flannery O Connor's Wise Blood

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Equally if not more important would be the other sin both men are guilty of, blasphemy. Blasphemy in simple terms is to believe and act in a way, that one considers themselves higher than God, to whom Christians believe is the ultimate power; in many religions it is a sin that can result in being excommunicated entirely; not too ironically it was what Jesus himself, was accused of and one of the main reasons as to why the Jewish people wanted to kill Him in the first place. Blasphemy is more than simply taking the Lord’s name in vain, as it is in reality a sin of extreme arrogance and pride, because the translation of this sin is to claim that God is wrong and man, who in the hierarchy of things, is a weaker lesser lifeform, knows more than God. Adam was tempted into eating the forbidden fruit which came from the Tree of Knowledge because he believed he deserved to know as much as God. He (and Eve to the same degree) …show more content…

Flannery O’Connor masterfully utilized this allusion to help portray these characters as familiar biblical character who faced similar challenges, especially since one of the main themes of this novel was mankind’s struggle with both sin and truth. Going further one may be able to further analyse how the allusion to Genesis may interact with the rest of the novel- it may be possible to find other biblical allusions not only in the New Testament but the Old Testament as well. After all if Jesus is to be the new Adam, then to what extent was Haze seeking a New

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