What is the place of true silence in human life? Not merely quiet, or even deafness, but the silence which strands you alone with the inner voice, that still, small voice we so often want to ignore, overwhelm, and obliterate. What is the meaning of that voice? And why do we seem so afraid to confront it? We take up these questions on our second of five episodes discussing Flannery O’Connor’s novel The Violent Bear it Away.

For this episode we read the second half of part one, which continues the story of young Francis Tarwater’s journey to meet his uncle Rayber in the city, after his great-uncle Marion Tarwater, who considered himself a prophet in the Old Testament tradition of Jonah, Daniel, and Elijah, has died. The themes of silence and speech resonate throughout this section, and along with them questions of paternity, freedom, and education. Who gets to educate the young and how? What are they teaching them and why? What are the effects of education on those whom it purports to be for? If you go to the best schools and read the best books are you in fact smarter and freer that someone who hasn’t, or are you simply a piece of information inside some great, inhuman brain? Are you a free human being, or a piano key to be played?