Wise Blood
June 19, 2010 Leave a comment
The boy didn’t need to hear it. There was already a deep black wordless conviction in him that the way to avoid Jesus was to avoid sin. He knew by the time he was twelve years old that he was going to be a preacher. Later, he saw Jesus move from tree to tree in the back of his mind, a wild ragged figure motioning him to turn around and come off into the dark where he was not sure of his footing, where he might be walking on the water and not know it and then suddenly know it and drown.
(Hazel Motes, Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor)
The blind man gave his edgy laugh. “Listen boy,” he said, “you can’t run away from Jesus. Jesus is a fact.”
(The blind preacher Asa Hawks speaking to Hazel Motes, Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor)
