I come from a family where the only emotion respectable to show is irritation. In some this tendency produces hives, in others literature, in me both.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on how a family environment can shape emotional expression, often leading to complex coping mechanisms.
Flannery O'Connor's quote illustrates the impact of familial expectations on emotional expression. In her family, expressing irritation was seen as the only acceptable emotion, which can lead to various personal reactions. For her, this duality manifests in physical symptoms like hives, as well as creative expression through literature—a way to process and cope with restricted emotions.
In practice
This quote can be used during a family therapy session to illustrate how family dynamics affect emotional health.
Let me make no bones about it: I write from the standpoint of Christian orthodoxy. Nothing is more repulsive to me than the idea of myself setting up a little universe of my own choosing and propounding a little immoralistic message. I write with a solid belief in all the Christian dogmas.
What people don’t realize is how much religion costs. They think faith is a big electric blanket, when of course it is the cross.
If you live today, you breath in nihilism ... it's the gas you breathe. If I hadn't had the Church to fight it with or to tell me the necessity of fighting it, I would be the stinkingest logical positivist you ever saw right now.
There won't be any biographies of me because, for only one reason, lives spent between the house and the chicken yard do not make exciting copy.
Knowing who you are is good for one generation only. You haven't the foggiest idea where you stand now or who you are
He loved her because it was his nature to do so, but there were times when he could not endure her love for him. There were times when it became nothing but pure idiot mystery.
Children will not remember you for the material things you provided but for the feeling that you cherished them.
I lost my daughter at 21. I had to give her up because I was broke, no place to take her, no money to take her. That was very traumatic.
The difference between keeping things clean and keeping kids clean was that things just sat still and waited for the dirt to collect. We kids were carriers. We ran a pickup and delivery service.
If you lose a parent, it never goes away. As a kid, I dreamed about my father coming back for 15 or 20 years. I still do sometimes.
The best bought-up children are those who have seen thier parents as they are. Hypocrisy is not the first duty of a parent.
A Modern Mom to me is not always someone that juggles a career and family. A Modern Mom is a woman who takes care of herself on the inside and the outside.
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