--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Whenever I’m asked why Southern writers…" description: "\"Whenever I’m asked why Southern writers particularly have a penchant for writing about freaks, I say it is because we are still able to recognize one.\"..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/953/flannery-o-connor-639_able_whenever-i-m-asked-why-southern-writers_1090626.png" --- # Whenever I’m asked why Southern writers particularly have… ![“Whenever I’m asked why Southern writers particularly have a penchant for writing about freaks, I say it is because we are still able to recognize one.” quote by Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/953/flannery-o-connor-639_able_whenever-i-m-asked-why-southern-writers_1090626.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/953/flannery-o-connor-639_able_whenever-i-m-asked-why-southern-writers_1090626.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/953/flannery-o-connor-639_able_whenever-i-m-asked-why-southern-writers_1090626.png) > “Whenever I’m asked why Southern writers particularly have a penchant for writing about freaks, I say it is because we are still able to recognize one.” [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Southern authors are drawn to “freaks” because they reveal underlying human truths that persist across cultures. **In simple terms:** Southern writers focus on outsiders to expose universal truths. Key Takeaway Explore marginalized perspectives to uncover deeper insights. Themes literature culture identity outsiders truth Mood thoughtful analytical Type literary critical When to use this quote - creative writing workshops - literary analysis - cultural studies Key Concepts human nature social critique regionalism Questions to Reflect On - Why do we gravitate toward the “other”? - How can we represent “freaks” ethically? A Different Perspective May oversimplify complex individuals. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Freaks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/freaks/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [“Whenever I'm asked why Southern writers particularly have a penchant for writing about freaks, I say it is because we are still able to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/whenever-i-m-asked-why-southern-writers-particularly-have-a-penchant-2/) [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) > [Many Southern writers must have learned the art of storytelling from listening to oral tales. I did. It gave me the knowledge that the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erskine-caldwell/many-southern-writers-must-have-learned-the-art-of-storytelling-from/) [Erskine Caldwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erskine-caldwell/) > [As with many Southern Writers, I believe that the special quality of the land itself indelibly shapes the people who dwell upon it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willie-morris/as-with-many-southern-writers-i-believe-that-the-special-quality-of/) [Willie Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willie-morris/) > [I am very indebted to southern writers and not just Flannery O'Connor. Also Harry Crews, Larry Brown, Tennessee Williams, Barry Hannah and William Gay.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-ray-pollock/i-am-very-indebted-to-southern-writers-and-not-just-flannery-o-connor/) [Donald Ray Pollock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-ray-pollock/) > [Today there are millions of people making stuff and putting it into the world: that's become part of our identity and it shouldn't be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-karp/today-there-are-millions-of-people-making-stuff-and-putting-it-into/) [David Karp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-karp/) > [Writers, particularly poets, always feel exiled in some way - people who don't exactly feel at home, so they try to find a home…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natasha-trethewey/writers-particularly-poets-always-feel-exiled-in-some-way-people-who/) [Natasha Trethewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natasha-trethewey/) > [My business is to be talented, that is, to be capable of selecting the important moments from the trivial ones. . . . It's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anton-chekhov/my-business-is-to-be-talented-that-is-to-be-capable-of-selecting-the/) [Anton Chekhov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anton-chekhov/) > [Scottish writers are particularly successful in the crime genre.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-sheridan/scottish-writers-are-particularly-successful-in-the-crime-genre/) [Sara Sheridan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-sheridan/) > [Writers, and particularly female writers, have to fight for the conditions they need to work.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/writers-and-particularly-female-writers-have-to-fight-for-the/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) > [We are in the same tent as the clowns and the freaks-that's show business.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-r-murrow/we-are-in-the-same-tent-as-the-clowns-and-the-freaks-that-s-show/) [Edward R. Murrow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-r-murrow/) > [Freaks and Geeks' was a show where our individuality was really celebrated.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/busy-philipps/freaks-and-geeks-was-a-show-where-our-individuality-was-really/) [Busy Philipps](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/busy-philipps/) > [The whole family is a bunch of dangerous freaks...Most are ex-cons or junkies or deranged from inbreeding. Five have died violently, three are back…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-dorsey/the-whole-family-is-a-bunch-of-dangerous-freaks-most-are-ex-cons-or/) [Tim Dorsey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-dorsey/) > [If you go looking for loonies and religious fanatics and dropouts and freaks, I dare say you'll find it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-fry/if-you-go-looking-for-loonies-and-religious-fanatics-and-dropouts-and/) [Stephen Fry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-fry/) > [If you're not part of the freaks, you're part of the boredom.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/perry-farrell/if-you-re-not-part-of-the-freaks-you-re-part-of-the-boredom/) [Perry Farrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/perry-farrell/) > [It was a little weird that they were friends. But then, maybe freaks just tended to find each other.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-patterson/it-was-a-little-weird-that-they-were-friends-but-then-maybe-freaks/) [James Patterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-patterson/) ## More by Flannery O'Connor > [“Wait here, wait here!" he cried and jumped up and began to run for help toward a cluster of lights he saw in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/wait-here-wait-here-he-cried-and-jumped-up-and-began-to-run-for-help/) [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) > [... the man in the violent situation reveals those qualities least dispensable in his personality, those qualities which are all he will have to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/the-man-in-the-violent-situation-reveals-those-qualities-least/) [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) > [“I don’t know how to cure the source-itis except to tell you that I can discover a good many possible sources myself for Wise…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/i-don-t-know-how-to-cure-the-source-itis-except-to-tell-you-that-i/) [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) > [“For the fiction writer himself the whole story is the meaning, because it is an experience, not an abstraction.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/for-the-fiction-writer-himself-the-whole-story-is-the-meaning-because/) [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) > [Everything that gave her pleasure was small and depressed him.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/everything-that-gave-her-pleasure-was-small-and-depressed-him/) [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) > [To the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost blind you draw large and startling figures.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/to-the-hard-of-hearing-you-shout-and-for-the-almost-blind-you-draw/) [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) > [“He felt his hunger no longer as a pain but as a tide. 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