"The Lame Shall Enter First" (LBR)

"The Lame Shall Enter First"

By: Flannery O'Connor

Flannery O'Connor’s “The Lame Shall Enter First” is a heartwarming work of literature that tells the story of a father’s search for a more “intellectual” son, through which he takes in a deviant, Rufus, and tries to change him for what he thinks, is for the better. However, Rufus lights a fire in the small family, which inevitably changes them for the better, bringing them closer to each other as well as God. O’Connor conveys this plot through the changes each of the characters goes through.

The character with the least amount of change is the young boy, Norton (a very slim dynamic). Norton is a small ten year old boy with a deceased mother, being raised by a single father, who could not care less about him, and on top of all of that he is an only child. The reason being for the little change shown is that, as Rufus references in the story, Norton is as good as God wants him to be and is without sin. Throughout the story the author paints Norton as a selfish, unintellectual child, but he has not been taught otherwise. It was not until Rufus came in to his life that he changed his ways and started to mature.

Next we have the Shepard, the father. Shepard holds the most change in this particular story (dynamic). He raves about his son being selfish and uneducated; when it is he who until the very end wants to change his son into a replica of himself. Shepard not only fails in changing his son, but also fails in changing Rufus. Rufus was brought into the family to replace Norton, and give Shepard the son he always wanted; however, what you want is not what you need. Rufus comes in and makes Shepard long for the days it was just him and his son, in the authors words he felt “a rush of agonizing love for his child.”

Lastly we have the infamous Rufus. Rufus did not change any (static); he stayed prideful and stubborn throughout the story. However, he was the key element to the change in this story. Without Rufus, Norton would not have matured and Shepard would not have noted the gift he had before him (his son). One could say that Rufus himself was an Angel in disguise.