A Circle in the Fire (Style)

Style

Foreshadowing

O'Connor makes frequent use of foreshadowing, so that the reader may guess the story's ending almost from the story's start. On the story's second page readers learn that "Mrs. Cope was always worrying about fires in her woods," thus making it clear that the word "fire" in the story's title is not incidental. Each time Mrs. Pritchard warns that sometimes trouble comes in overwhelming waves, it enforces the idea that Mrs. Cope's trouble may come in the form of fire. Garfield spits a lighted cigarette into the grass, and a flustered Mrs. Cope mistakenly calls him "Ashfield." By this point in the story, the reader suspects the farm's fate is sealed.

The predictability that O'Connor creates heightens tension rather than quashing it. Readers may feel as if they are on a roller coaster, careening inexorably toward a final, heart-stopping drop. They know the drop is coming, they just do not know exactly when, or what the approach to the drop will be like. Tension is created by contrasting the inevitable conclusion with Mrs. Cope's immovable, incomprehensible confidence that all will be well. Her inability to grasp the reality of looming disaster becomes more incredible the nearer the disaster draws.

Biblical Allusion

The story's title and its last sentence are biblical allusions (indirect references to a biblical tale or event). The final image of Mrs. Cope watching her woods burn as Sally hears "in the distance a few wild high shrieks of joy as if the prophets were dancing in the fiery furnace, in the circle the angel had cleared for them" is an allusion to the third chapter of the Old Testament book of Daniel. This chapter tells the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, three Jews who lived in Babylon during the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar. In the story, the king orders all his subjects must worship a golden idol he has had erected. Anyone who refuses to worship the idol is to be burned alive in a "fiery furnace." Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refuse despite this threat, telling the king that their God will protect them from the fire. The three men are therefore tied up and thrown into the furnace. The heat is so intense that the soldiers who throw the three into the fire are killed by the fire. Yet the fire does not burn the three Jews. King Nebuchadnezzar looks into the furnace and is shocked to see Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego walking around unharmed. The king orders the men to come out of the fire and then converts to their religion.

By placing allusions to this story at the beginning and end of "A Circle in the Fire," O'Connor makes the biblical story the context for her own story and thus provides a clear direction for interpreting it.

Topics for Further Study

• In the story, Powell and his friends consider the farm a paradise; they much prefer being there to being in the city, where they live. Do you think that this would be true for most thirteen-year-old boys in the twenty-first century? Why or why not?
• The boys live in a "development" in Atlanta. It is clear from their descriptions that they live in apartments and that they do not like living there. Research housing in the 1950s. Find out what these urban apartment developments were like and what life was like for the people who lived in them.
• Discuss the significance of Mrs. Cope's name. Why do you think O'Connor chose this name for her character? Do any of the other characters' names have particular significance?
• O'Connor makes clear that from the time the boys arrive at the farm Mrs. Cope makes one blunder after another. Her actions make the destruction of her farm virtually certain. What should Mrs. Cope have done differently? According to Mrs. Pritchard, there was nothing Mrs. Cope could have done. Do you agree or disagree? Explain what you would have done if you had been in Mrs. Cope's situation.
• At the end of the story, Sally Virginia identifies with her mother for the first time, although she recoils when she does so. What do you think is meant by this sentence describing Sally Virginia as she looked at her mother's face: "It was the face of the new misery she felt, but on her mother it looked old, and it looked as if it might have belonged to anybody, a Negro or a European or to Powell himself"?