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He almost never explains himself to other people.
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Here he is accounting for his need for the car.
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Now, of course, O'Connor was very good at imbuing
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her writing with repeated symbols that grow and accrue meaning
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across the text.
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So we've already seen the trope of the house.
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And if you look back at 24 (oh, no--try 20;
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see if we can find it here.), when Haze describes--or, we sort of
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know through his consciousness-- the story of his time in the Army,
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this is what we learn about how he felt there, after he's wounded:
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He had all the time he could want to study his soul in and assure
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himself that it was not there.