"A Circle in the Fire" is a

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

Flannery O'Connor Mary Flannery O'Connor (March 25, 1925August 3, 1964) was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist. She wrote two novels and 31 short stories, as well as a number of reviews and commentaries. She was a Southern writer who often ...

. It was written in 1954 and published in 1955 in her short story collection ''

A Good Man is Hard to Find ''A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories'' (published in the United Kingdom as ''The Artificial Nigger and Other Tales'') is a collection of short stories by American author Flannery O'Connor. The collection was first published in 1955. The ...

''. A devout

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

, O'Connor often used religious themes in her work.

Plot summary

The story involves Mrs. Cope, the owner of a farm in the South, who is visited by three teenage boys, including Powell Boyd, the son of one of her former farm workers. Mrs. Cope, her workers, and her daughter are all suspicious of the boys. The boys hitchhiked from Atlanta and were hoping to spend some time on the farm and ride her horses during their vacation. Mrs. Cope gives them some food, but discourages them from staying. The boys do not listen to her, riding her horses, messing with cattle and lying to her. She threatens to send him to D.A and tells them she owns the farm and adjacent woods and that they must leave. The story ends with the boys laughing prophetically while setting fire to the woods, and the scene is reminiscent of a story in the Biblical

Book of Daniel The Book of Daniel is a 2nd-century BC biblical apocalypse with a 6th century BC setting. Ostensibly "an account of the activities and visions of Daniel, a noble Jew exiled at Babylon", it combines a prophecy of history with an eschatology (a ...

where the evil King

Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar II (Babylonian cuneiform: ''Nabû-kudurri-uṣur'', meaning "Nabu, watch over my heir"; Biblical Hebrew: ''Nəḇūḵaḏneʾṣṣar''), also spelled Nebuchadrezzar II, was the second king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, ruling ...

unsuccessfully attempts to burn three men in a fiery furnace when they refuse to worship the King's idol.Richard Giannone
Flannery O'Connor, hermit novelist
(University of Illinois Press, 2000)

References

Short stories by Flannery O'Connor 1954 short stories {{1950s-story-stub