Search/Recent Changes
DBTropes
...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!

Wise Blood

 Wise Blood
type
TVTItem
 Wise Blood
label
Wise Blood
 Wise Blood
page
WiseBlood
 Wise Blood
comment
Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_1'); })Wise Blood is a 1952 novelnote four chapters were initially published as short stories in 1948 and 1949 by Flannery O’Connor. In 1979, it was adapted into a film by John Huston.Hazel Motes is the grandson of a preacher. After serving in an unspecified war where he didn't so much lose his faith as realize that he never wanted that faith in the first place, he returns to Tennessee. He finds living without Christ to be more complicated than he expected, and that it's harder to give up preaching than it was to renounce Jesus.Hazel finds himself standing on the hood of his car and expounding—for everyone with ears to hear—on what he calls the Church Without Christ, where "the deaf don't hear, the blind don't see, the lame don't walk, the dumb don't talk, and the dead stay that way." His only follower is Enoch Emery, an 18-year-old who believes he has "wise blood" that tells him secret things. Enoch thinks modern man needs a new Jesus; his first candidate for the position is Hazel Motes, and his second is a mummy in a local museum. Hazel wants nothing to do with Enoch's search, and finds himself fighting corruption in his nascent anti-church: The evangelist Hoover Shoats snatches Hazel's message, renames it The Holy Church of Christ Without Christ, turns it into a money-making scheme... and gets more followers than Hazel ever did.Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_2'); })Meanwhile, Hazel associates with Asa Hawks—an itinerant preacher who blinded himself with quicklime to prove his faith—solely so he can rebuff the preacher's attempts to redeem him. And he becomes increasingly frustrated as Asa does nothing of the sort. Hazel's attempt to seduce Sabbath Lily, Asa's daughter, are similarly frustrated when it becomes clear that she's just as interested in seducing Hazel.Eventually, in spite of Hazel's best efforts, God's grace finds him and leaves him a changed man. But it's not entirely clear whether or not he was saved by this encounter.
 Wise Blood
fetched
2023-03-13T01:28:04Z
 Wise Blood
parsed
2023-03-13T01:28:04Z
 Wise Blood
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Wise Blood / int_12628662
type
The Call Knows Where You Live
 Wise Blood / int_12628662
comment
The Call Knows Where You Live: The harder Hazel tries to resist God's calling, the more his life goes off the rails. This is more or less the main theme of the book. (See the quote from O'Connor at the top of the page.)
 Wise Blood / int_12628662
featureApplicability
1.0
 Wise Blood / int_12628662
featureConfidence
1.0
 Wise Blood
hasFeature
Wise Blood / int_12628662
 Wise Blood / int_222dc873
type
Black Comedy
 Wise Blood / int_222dc873
comment
Black Comedy: To put it lightly.
 Wise Blood / int_222dc873
featureApplicability
1.0
 Wise Blood / int_222dc873
featureConfidence
1.0
 Wise Blood
hasFeature
Wise Blood / int_222dc873
 Wise Blood / int_4ef92d0b
type
The Atoner
 Wise Blood / int_4ef92d0b
comment
The Atoner: Hazel is reduced to this at the end of his life.
 Wise Blood / int_4ef92d0b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Wise Blood / int_4ef92d0b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Wise Blood
hasFeature
Wise Blood / int_4ef92d0b
 Wise Blood / int_65b696be
type
Fille Fatale
 Wise Blood / int_65b696be
comment
Fille Fatale: Sabbath Lily Hawks, albeit an unlikely one.
 Wise Blood / int_65b696be
featureApplicability
1.0
 Wise Blood / int_65b696be
featureConfidence
1.0
 Wise Blood
hasFeature
Wise Blood / int_65b696be
 Wise Blood / int_6bda9a30
type
Meaningful Name
 Wise Blood / int_6bda9a30
comment
Meaningful Name: Hazel Motes' last name is reminiscent of Jesus' admonition to remove the plank of wood from your own eye before you complain of the mote in your brother's eye. His nickname, "Haze", also suggests blindness. Asa is a raptor in two senses. He's a thief, and since his last name is Hawks, he's also a bird of prey.
 Wise Blood / int_6bda9a30
featureApplicability
1.0
 Wise Blood / int_6bda9a30
featureConfidence
1.0
 Wise Blood
hasFeature
Wise Blood / int_6bda9a30
 Wise Blood / int_744e3311
type
Police Brutality
 Wise Blood / int_744e3311
comment
Police Brutality: A policeman catches Hazel driving without a license, so he pushes Hazel's car over an embankment, destroying it. At the end of the novel, two cops find Hazel nearly unconscious in a ditch, and one of them gratuitously knocks him out with his billy club.
 Wise Blood / int_744e3311
featureApplicability
1.0
 Wise Blood / int_744e3311
featureConfidence
1.0
 Wise Blood
hasFeature
Wise Blood / int_744e3311
 Wise Blood / int_76b4b7dd
type
The Comically Serious
 Wise Blood / int_76b4b7dd
comment
The Comically Serious: Hazel responds to nearly every confrontation by reciting the nihilistic credo of his church. Brad Dourif is especially good with this in the film version.
 Wise Blood / int_76b4b7dd
featureApplicability
1.0
 Wise Blood / int_76b4b7dd
featureConfidence
1.0
 Wise Blood
hasFeature
Wise Blood / int_76b4b7dd
 Wise Blood / int_87b8f581
type
Refusal of the Call
 Wise Blood / int_87b8f581
comment
Refusal of the Call: Hazel is determined, at his own peril, not to give in to the "ragged figure" who haunts him—the "ragged figure" being Jesus Christ.
 Wise Blood / int_87b8f581
featureApplicability
1.0
 Wise Blood / int_87b8f581
featureConfidence
1.0
 Wise Blood
hasFeature
Wise Blood / int_87b8f581
 Wise Blood / int_8ffd5bdc
type
The Penance
 Wise Blood / int_8ffd5bdc
comment
The Penance: Hazel blinds himself at the end of the book after realizing he could never really escape God and his feelings of being a sinner.
 Wise Blood / int_8ffd5bdc
featureApplicability
1.0
 Wise Blood / int_8ffd5bdc
featureConfidence
1.0
 Wise Blood
hasFeature
Wise Blood / int_8ffd5bdc
 Wise Blood / int_9245d989
type
Sinister Minister
 Wise Blood / int_9245d989
comment
Sinister Minister: Asa Hawks, though he's a pretty ineffectual villain.
 Wise Blood / int_9245d989
featureApplicability
1.0
 Wise Blood / int_9245d989
featureConfidence
1.0
 Wise Blood
hasFeature
Wise Blood / int_9245d989
 Wise Blood / int_a122bf2f
type
Blind Seer
 Wise Blood / int_a122bf2f
comment
Blind Seer: Intentionally invoked by Asa Hawks. He's faking on both counts.
 Wise Blood / int_a122bf2f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Wise Blood / int_a122bf2f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Wise Blood
hasFeature
Wise Blood / int_a122bf2f
 Wise Blood / int_a2b38d3b
type
Eye Scream
 Wise Blood / int_a2b38d3b
comment
Eye Scream: The preferred method of blinding oneself is quicklime in the eyes.
 Wise Blood / int_a2b38d3b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Wise Blood / int_a2b38d3b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Wise Blood
hasFeature
Wise Blood / int_a2b38d3b
 Wise Blood / int_bc74ef27
type
Berserk Button
 Wise Blood / int_bc74ef27
comment
Berserk Button: Enoch really hates animals, like the ones he sees in the zoo he works for, and gets mad when he sees them.
 Wise Blood / int_bc74ef27
featureApplicability
1.0
 Wise Blood / int_bc74ef27
featureConfidence
1.0
 Wise Blood
hasFeature
Wise Blood / int_bc74ef27
 Wise Blood / int_bcbf7aef
type
Plucky Comic Relief
 Wise Blood / int_bcbf7aef
comment
Plucky Comic Relief: Hoover Shoates, aka "Oney Jay Holy" as the smooth-talking Con Man apostle to street preachers.
 Wise Blood / int_bcbf7aef
featureApplicability
1.0
 Wise Blood / int_bcbf7aef
featureConfidence
1.0
 Wise Blood
hasFeature
Wise Blood / int_bcbf7aef
 Wise Blood / int_c2d978fe
type
Car Fu
 Wise Blood / int_c2d978fe
comment
Car Fu: Hazel kills his doppelganger by running him over with his car.
 Wise Blood / int_c2d978fe
featureApplicability
1.0
 Wise Blood / int_c2d978fe
featureConfidence
1.0
 Wise Blood
hasFeature
Wise Blood / int_c2d978fe
 Wise Blood / int_c452da2f
type
Southern Gothic
 Wise Blood / int_c452da2f
comment
Southern Gothic: A classic of the genre.
 Wise Blood / int_c452da2f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Wise Blood / int_c452da2f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Wise Blood
hasFeature
Wise Blood / int_c452da2f
 Wise Blood / int_f237981e
type
The Alleged Car
 Wise Blood / int_f237981e
comment
The Alleged Car: Hazel is quite proud of his car, but the description makes it clear that it's a jalopy.
 Wise Blood / int_f237981e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Wise Blood / int_f237981e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Wise Blood
hasFeature
Wise Blood / int_f237981e
 Wise Blood / int_f27ec906
type
Identical Stranger
 Wise Blood / int_f27ec906
comment
Identical Stranger: After Hazel cuts off ties to Hoover's Holy Church of Christ Without Christ, Hoover finds another man who looks a lot like Hazel—and even has a similar car—to act as his "prophet".
 Wise Blood / int_f27ec906
featureApplicability
1.0
 Wise Blood / int_f27ec906
featureConfidence
1.0
 Wise Blood
hasFeature
Wise Blood / int_f27ec906
 Wise Blood / int_fc151e9d
type
Department of Redundancy Department
 Wise Blood / int_fc151e9d
comment
Department of Redundancy Department: The Holy Church of Christ Without Christ
 Wise Blood / int_fc151e9d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Wise Blood / int_fc151e9d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Wise Blood
hasFeature
Wise Blood / int_fc151e9d
 Wise Blood / int_name
type
ItemName
 Wise Blood / int_name
comment
 Wise Blood / int_name
featureApplicability
1.0
 Wise Blood / int_name
featureConfidence
1.0
 Wise Blood
hasFeature
Wise Blood / int_name
 Wise Blood / int_name
itemName
Wise Blood

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Wise Blood
seeAlso
Wise Blood
 Wise Blood
hasFeature
Car Fu / int_481d9449
 Wise Blood
hasFeature
Fille Fatale / int_481d9449
 FlanneryOConnor
seeAlso
Wise Blood
 Wise Blood
hasFeature
Identical Stranger / int_481d9449
 Wise Blood
hasFeature
Obfuscating Disability / int_481d9449
 Wise Blood
hasFeature
Police Brutality / int_481d9449
 Wise Blood
hasFeature
The Alleged Car / int_481d9449
 Wise Blood
hasFeature
The Penance / int_481d9449
 Wise Blood
hasFeature
Unwanted False Faith / int_481d9449