The grotesque character of Sheppard in O'Connor's "The Lame Shall Enter First" is in the grip of obsessions that result in his son's death and the final alienation of Johnson. Sheppard's obsessions warped his nature and he cannot feel normal emotions toward his son or reason about Johnson's behavior. The obsessions of the boys stunt their ability to grow emotionally and the obsessions' consequences are final. By the end of the story Sheppard is jolted out of his obsession. The results of his obsessive behavior give him a strange kind of grace. Grace implies the opportunity to change or, at least, to see where the individual has left his humanity aside in favor of his obsession. The truth about his behavior is revealed and the importance of religion, expressed so crudely by the two boys, comes home to him.
Clearly this is an unusual case in which the grotesque character recovers, at a terrible cost, the opportunity to be human again. Sheppard's obsessions have robbed him of everything he hoped for from his life. Now he faces life in the shadow of the horrible consequences of having abandoned his humanity. Sheppard's punishment is stronger than the consequences earned by the two boys. Death and total alienation from society are strong consequences. But in each case there is a self-fulfilling quality to their obsessions. Norton is with his mother and Johnson has proved he is the devil's child. Each experienced consequences that did not contradict the nature of their obsessions. Nothing happened to shake their convictions. Sheppard's punishment is stronger because he is left to face the consequences without the false strength that he had previously gotten from his obsession.
O'Connor, Flannery. "The Lame Shall Enter First." Everything That Rises Must Converge. 1965. Three by Flannery O'Connor. New York: Signet Classic, 1983. 371-404.
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