Drowning in a river, the violent murder of a grandmother in the backwoods of Georgia, the trans-genital display of a freak at a carnival show - all are shocking literary devices used by Flannery O'Connor, one of literature's best pulp-fiction writers. More than 35 years after her death, readers are still shocked by O'Connor's grotesque images. Dr. Jill Baumgaertner concentrates on O'Connor's use of emblems, those moments of sudden and horrid illumination when the sacred and the profane merge as sacrament. This readable volume is ideal for college students, O'Connor scholars, or those wishing to better understand Southern gothic fiction.