Died at the age of thirty-nine, Flannery O'Conner lost her battle with lupus, but earned her place among the great American short story writers and essayists . . Born in Savannah, Georgia, within the borders of America's "Bible Belt," she was raised Catholic, making O'Connor a minority among the conservative Protestant and Baptist faiths seen in the South. of the United States. Amid the loss of his father at the age of fifteen, followed by his diagnosis and struggle with the same physical illness that took him, as well as his unwavering faith in the Catholic Church are crucial elements of the style O'Connor's literary works that shape and guide his stories of loss, regret and redemption. Flannery O'Connor's writings can sometimes be difficult to understand, but the general theme of finding grace, sometimes in the midst of violence or tragedy, can be recognized in the body of her works. O'Connor's stories are written about family dysfunction, internal anguish toward life or a loved one, and are usually set on a farm, plantation, or family home in the American South. His stories of ethical and moral challenges blur the lines between his Catholic faith and his values, which also include the values ​​of other religious faiths that surrounded him in his youth, simply writing about the pain and struggles that people from all walks of life commonly share . On March 25, 1925, Edward Francis O'Connor and Regina Cline O'Connor gave birth to their only child and named her Mary Flannery O'Connor (Bloom 11). She was raised as a devout Roman Catholic attending St. Vincent High School and Scared Heart Parochial School for Girls in Savannah from 1931 to 1938, followed by St. Joseph Parochial School and North Fulton..... . middle of paper... ...ogue of the South at that time towards minorities. Works Cited "Historic Andalusia Farmhouse, home of American writer Flannery O'Connor in Milledgeville." The Flannery O'Connor - Andalusia Foundation, Inc. Np, nd Web. December 9, 2013. May, Charles E. Flannery O'Connor. Pasadena, CA: Salem Press, 2012. Print.Brewer, Nadine. "Christ, Satan, and Southern Protestantism in O'Connor's Fiction." Flannery O'Connor Bulletin 14 (1985): 103-111. Rep. in 20th century literary criticism. Ed. Janet Witalec. Flight. 132. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Information Resource Center. Internet. November 25, 2013 Hayes, John and Charles E. May. “The ‘Christ-Haunted’ South: Contextualizing Flannery O’Connor.” Critical Insights: Flannery O'Connor (2011): 43-58. Literary reference center. Internet. November 18, 2013. Bloom, Harold. Flannery O'Connor. Broomall, PA: Chelsea House Publishers, 1999. Print.