The Lame Shall Enter First

The Lame Shall Enter First

Introduction

“The Lame Shall Enter First” is one of the greatest short stories, written by famous writer, Flannery O'Connor. This story was first published in the year 1965, in her short story collection called “Everything That Rises Must Converge”. Flannery O'Connor was a devoted Roman Catholic. Her religious views can easily be noticed in her writing because she often used pious themes in her writings. Proceeding discussion summarizes her one of the master pieces (Seel, 2001).

Discussion

The plot of this short tale is based on the story of young boy whose name was Norton. Norton lost his mother at the age of nine. Father of Norton, named Sheppard, used to work as a town recreational director, other than the week days. During his job he met a young boy named as Rufus Johnson. Rufus was disturbed, yet intelligent and smart boy, having an age of fourteen. He showed his potential and skills to father of Norton, which really impressed him. Immediately Sheppard started liking Rufus and after Rufus left the jail, the father of Norton decided to invite Rufus at his home. He thought that he would change the personality of Rufus from distressed and disturbed person to brilliant and well behaved young man. On the other hand, Norton was not happy with the idea of his father. Actually he did not want the presence of Rufus in his home (Kirk, 2008).

The story begins with the first scene of the story in which Norton and Sheppard were having breakfast. During the breakfast, Sheppard, father of Norton told his son that he saw a young boy, Rufus, who was trying to find something to eat from the trash can. The main reason was that he tried to stir some sympathy in Norton. During the breakfast he tried to realize his son that how blessed he is, but he did not realized that his son has a grief of losing his mother. Sheppard told his son that he is thinking of bringing Rufus at home in order to provide him better environment. He told all his views to his son because he thought that his son must realize that he is one of the most blessed people. Unfortunately Sheppard got disappointment because his son vomited up his breakfast (Kirk, 2008).

Sheppard was initially impressed with the young boy Rufus. It was because of the reason that he thought that Sheppard is incredibly intelligent and smart. He used to meet Rufus on weekly basis until he released from the jail. Rufus could not see his father because his father had passed away before his birth. The mother of Rufus was in jail and when Rufus was released from jail, his grandfather got guardianship of him. On the other hand, Sheppard invited Rufus to his home and gave the keys of his home. He also hoped that Rufus would leave his grandfather place and would come to his home. Actually Sheppard wanted to take full credit of ...