Feather Method: Rereading O’Connor in the Age of the Object

Abstract

Gina Caison coins “feather method,” an object-oriented ontology that considers the feather itself as a lens for reading several of O’Connor’s stories. Rather than seeing the peacock feather as a metaphor for the author’s work or as a religious symbol, as many readers have, Caison takes the feather as a meaning-making object in its own right and uses its characteristics to reconsider O’Connor. Caison argues that O’Connor’s writing both upholds and challenges an object-oriented ontology that rejects status hierarchy. Thus, her essay uses O’Connor’s work to further theorize object-oriented ontology.