Free Essays on First Confession

Eyes of A Child Children see the world with different eyes than those of adults. In a situation where an adult might see a chance for failure, a child might sense an opportunity. Where adults see a person of a different race, culture, religion, or sexuality, a child will see a chance to make a new friend. Adults see shades of gray, while children see different colors of the rainbow. Because of their optimism and resiliency, children have a better grasp of the world than adults do. Adults regret their past, worry about their future, and have no time to enjoy the present. In â€Å"First Confession,† by Frank O’Connor, there is a character named Ryan who speaks about God to children before they get out of school every day. Ryan is an old woman about the age of Jackie’s Grandmother according to Jackie, and she is a God-fearing woman who attempts to instill the apprehension of God into children so that they will save themselves from mortal sin. She talks about the eternal flames of hell, the consequences of performing a poor confession, and the importance of searching one’s conscious to determine whether one is living a righteous lifestyle or not. Because of her anecdotes of gloom and doom, Jackie is terrified to perform his first communion. Ryan sees God as a vengeful figure, someone who will smite evil off of the face of this Earth without mercy. Through Ryan’s descriptions, God is an inhuman, cold, and demanding master w ho will not have any compassion for wrongdoers, regardless of their age. â€Å"All eternity! Just think of that! A whole lifetime goes by and it’s nothing, not even a drop in the ocean of your sufferings.†(O’Connor, p.311). Through Ryan’s descriptions, God is an inhuman, cold, and demanding master who will not have any compassion for wrongdoers, regardless of their age. Every adult has been a child before, and sometimes, a person, place or thing allows him or her to feel like one again.... Free Essays on First Confession Free Essays on First Confession Frank O’Connor’s â€Å"First Confession† is a short story contrasting hypocrisy and honesty in regard to religious faith, which upon reading might, with any luck, inspire a person to examine their own sincerity of faith or lack of it. O’Connor masterfully weaves together the use of three main elements: tone, characterization, and point of view, in illustrating this theme to his readers. A brief examination of these tools will show how they each contribute to the contrast itself as well as how a reading of â€Å"First Confession† might inspire a person to meditate on their own faith to discover if in fact it is of a hypocritical nature or purely honest. One basic element O’Connor uses in his contrast of hypocrisy and honesty is tone. Although this is indeed a serious subject, O’Connor makes his point by incorporating the humor of childhood inexperience into the story, thus creating a lighthearted tone. One example of this is illustrated when the reader is introduced to Jackie’s lack of familiarity with the confessional and his subsequent fumbled attempts to carry through with what he knows vaguely he should do. Such use of tone helps the reader to feel sympathetic amusement toward Jackie in his predicament and defines him as innocently honest in those attempts. To contrast hypocrisy, O’Connor once again puts this same style of humor to use creating a lighthearted tone when upon exiting the confessional Nora, Jackie’s older and â€Å"wiser† sister, puts on a â€Å"holier-than-thou† exhibition of virtue. Her doing so is an incredible follow-up to her malicious and â€Å"r egretfully† toned reminders to Jackie of his past offenses such as: â€Å"Oh, God help us! she moaned.’ Isn’t it a terrible pity you weren’t a good boy? †, â€Å"My heart bleeds for you†, and â€Å"How will you ever think of all your sins?† (O’Connor 323) as well as her musing on the dreadful punishments that surely await him whil... Free Essays on First Confession Eyes of A Child Children see the world with different eyes than those of adults. In a situation where an adult might see a chance for failure, a child might sense an opportunity. Where adults see a person of a different race, culture, religion, or sexuality, a child will see a chance to make a new friend. Adults see shades of gray, while children see different colors of the rainbow. Because of their optimism and resiliency, children have a better grasp of the world than adults do. Adults regret their past, worry about their future, and have no time to enjoy the present. In â€Å"First Confession,† by Frank O’Connor, there is a character named Ryan who speaks about God to children before they get out of school every day. Ryan is an old woman about the age of Jackie’s Grandmother according to Jackie, and she is a God-fearing woman who attempts to instill the apprehension of God into children so that they will save themselves from mortal sin. She talks about the eternal flames of hell, the consequences of performing a poor confession, and the importance of searching one’s conscious to determine whether one is living a righteous lifestyle or not. Because of her anecdotes of gloom and doom, Jackie is terrified to perform his first communion. Ryan sees God as a vengeful figure, someone who will smite evil off of the face of this Earth without mercy. Through Ryan’s descriptions, God is an inhuman, cold, and demanding master w ho will not have any compassion for wrongdoers, regardless of their age. â€Å"All eternity! Just think of that! A whole lifetime goes by and it’s nothing, not even a drop in the ocean of your sufferings.†(O’Connor, p.311). Through Ryan’s descriptions, God is an inhuman, cold, and demanding master who will not have any compassion for wrongdoers, regardless of their age. Every adult has been a child before, and sometimes, a person, place or thing allows him or her to feel like one again....