Abstract: This essay argues that nothing in The Violent Bear It Away is more shocking than hallucination, act, both of which join forces to stir up fierce violence, propel the entire narrative progression. Hallucination is set up as a catalyst to activate the subjective consciousness, whereas act occurs right afterwards for a dedicated subvertion of ideologies. However, once action takes place in the form of violence, it transforms into a double-edged sword, which may either create revolutionaries or prop up totalitarians. Through an analysis based on Jaynes’, Zizek’s theories, we may see that the theme of violence in O’Connor’s novel breaks through the existing religious stereotypes, presents a much broader narrative space. It underscores the significance of hallucination in contemporary literature, revamps the structure in which vision dominates everything, thus assessing the complexity of political revolution, condemning patriarchy, fascism, “big others”. In this way, the mindset of a religious interpretation in reading O’Connor’s writings is shattered, her novel’s current ramification, its concern with reality are demonstrated clearly

Key words: O'Connor, The Violent Bear It Away, hallucination, action