Hazel Motes exibits the signs of one who has been tainted by religion, marked by sin, and saved by Christ.
His grandfather constantly berrated him and badgered him. He threatened him with the name of Jesus. Instead of being the Savior, Jesus was to Motes a monster in the closet, someone hunting him through the trees in the his imagination. Motes lives his life hiding and running from the scary Jesus which his mother used as a punishment, his grandfather used as a threat, and culture used as a restraining rod.
Sin marks Motes throughout his entire life. He was hurt in the war because of his cowardice. He was scorned by Mrs. Watts because of his desire to experience sexual pleasure. He was scorned by Onnie Jay Holie because of his unerring desire to run from Jesus. Even the sin of his car marked him. He believed that the car was his ultimate escape. In essence, he is a modern day Jonah. Though his whale was his car, it eventually spit him up.
He ended up losing his car and being saved by the Jesus he was running from. The patrolman shoved his car off the cliff and allowed him to see God coming toward him in the horizon. This sight caused him to blind himself; for, as he was face-to-face with the Almighty, all he saw was his sin. What can you see other than all your evil when you are in the presence of holiness? He blinds himself so that he doesn't have to look at what he has done and so that he can examine his internal desires to be with Jesus. He is also able to focus on the pain that his sin has caused as he does his penance.
He is definitely tainted by religion but saved by Jesus
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Do you think he was saved by having to pay for his own sin? Or does he trust in the payment made by Jesus? It seems to me like, although he recognizes his sin and the debt of it, he never recognizes a Savior. I don't know the answer...perhaps that's why O'Connor ended like she did - so that we would have to seek it out.
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