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Ifinnigan, please consider whether your interpretation makes allowance for O'Connor's deeply ironic tone, which up-ends all easy stereotypes in the final analysis. Her intent was not in lampooning or making fun of Southern Protestants --- not even close to that--- although some might see it that way.

I've been reading, struggling with, and rethinking Flannery O'Connor for years, and I know her "Gothic" style isn't for many. Consider the huge paradoxes in her stories.

The most "grotesque" figures, who are Christ-haunted and by turns Christ-fanatical and Christophobic, turn out to be right on the key point because they take God seriously. They know God is real and that they have to be either His prophet or His enemy.

My favorite one in this category is Mrs. Turpin from "Revelation." She thinks incessantly about her level in the social order in their small rural community, and considers herself above most other people. Then she is physically attacked (!!) by Mary Grace (MARY GRACE!!!) in the doctor's office waiting room, and later has a revelation stemming from Mary Grace's yelling at her that she is "an old wart hog." She realizes she "is" an old wart hog, or rather, that her status doesn't mean anything, and that God is bringing her "social inferiors" into heaven by His inexplicable grace. That is her "Revelation."

The more "sophisticated" people in her stories--- the humanists, do-gooders, teachers, social workers --- turn out in the end to be clueless and shallow (like Sheppard in "The Lame Shall Enter First"). They don't fight for God, and they don't fight against Him. So in the end, they don't make any contact with the core realities of life, good and evil. They don't receive any revelation unless their disappointment with life turns out to be revelatory.

I won't go on. Like I said, her writing is so ironic, it's definitely not for every taste. But don't judge that she is making fun of Protestants. That is a million miles from her intent.