A Temple of the Holy Ghost

This story was definitely a lot better than I thought it was going to be. Originally, I thought it was going to be about some creepy ghosts, or some creepy church building. I didn’t imagine it to be about teenage girls. I especially enjoyed it because I have a passion for working with young girls specifically around 12-14. In my opinion, that is so a critical time period in a young girls life. It’s when “boys,” start to become a distraction and more importantly, when self esteem issues began. It was interesting to see how the main character developed in the story. I feel as if O’Connor expresses some of her own characteristics through the child. It seems as if the child is an introvert and was negative at times. Since O’Connor moved to a farm in Georgia at age 12, she more than likely spend a lot of time by herself. In her biography, it states that “an intellectual in a rural environment, she quickly began to see the world as sometimes annoying, but often amusing.” This is how the main character portrays her feelings. She seems to be very annoyed with her cousins, but at the same time, she is entertained by them and continues to be around them in the story.
She is very blunt and has no problem expressing how she feels. This makes it a lot easier to understand the character and her interactions with the other characters.

A part of the story that really sticks out to me is, “They came in the brown convent uniforms they has to wear at Mount St. Scholastica but as soon as they opened their suitcases, they took off the uniforms and put on red skirts and loud blouses.” As I read this, I was reminded of “Sunday Christians.” They put on their Sunday best and go to church, but as soon as Monday strolls along, the Sunday best is gone and the “life outfit,” comes on. People need to wear their Sunday best all the time and stand firm in who they are in Christ, no matter what the circumstance is.