O’Connor’s stories, often grotesque and violent, also reveal the workings of God’s grace, which could turn someone’s life around, even in the worst of circumstances, assuming the person exerted the strength to live differently. O’Connor was a great admirer of peafowl despite the ear-splitting cries they emitted at night. To her, the magical way the birds went from drab to gorgeous in a matter of seconds was an image of the Transfiguration.