Is the glass half full or is it half empty? Many philosophers use this question as a way to determine one being an optimist or a pessimist. That being, is the person looking at the world around them in a positive view, or do they have a dark cloud looming over their head casting a shadow over their eyes. To this day many writers have actually used this idea as a platform for their writing, and as a way for them to reach out to readers. In Flannery O’Connor’s short story, The Enduring Chill, the reader is faced with a pessimistic character named Asbury. Asbury is a character that feels as if the entire world is put up on his shoulders, so he decides that he is ready for Death at his bedside table. However, many times in a person’s life it is ultimately up to them to make the best of the situation. Something that Asbury fails to do multiple times. Through the use of Asbury in “The Enduring Chill” Flannery O’Connor is conveying that a person always has the option to live in a hell on earth or their own heaven on earth; Life is what they make of it. This can be seen first in Asbury’s decision to not visit the doctor out of spite even as his mother insists, secondly in his decision to blame his mother for his failure to be an artist instead of taking it upon himself, and lastly Asbury’s imagination coming to full front as he sees imagery in the water stain on the wall.

Asbury refuses to meet with a doctor to get a checkup on his “enduring chill.” This is one of his first fatal mistakes in the short story. It can be seen in his first conversations with his mother while in the car, “’You did well to come home where you can get a good doctor! I’ll take you to Doctor Block this afternoon.’ ‘I am not,’ he said, trying to keep his voice from shaking, ‘going to Doctor Block’” (Page 3, O’Connor). From this we can see that a simple piece of advice was given out of pity, but Asbury, the one being pitied, dismissed it with no remorse. Not only does this man refuse to see the doctor, but he actually fights with Doctor Block when he is brought to him. It is actually Asbury’s mother that brings Doctor Block to him without even telling him. This continues even as Asbury is visited multiple times. In the first appointment Doctor Block can be seen as a child’s doctor, and he is happy to be there for Asbury. This can be seen through “’Azzberry,’ he started, ‘how long…’ Asbury sat up and thrust his thudding head forward and said, ‘I didn’t send for you. I’m not answering any questions. You’re not my doctor. What’s wrong with me is way beyond you.’ ‘Most things are beyond me,’ Block said” (Page 10, O’Connor). In this we see that Asbury doesn’t take too kindly to his doctor even as he is trying to help. Luckily for him Doctor Block brushes the insult off like he has heard it before. All the while Asbury has his option to make himself feel better, but instead digs himself into a further grave, sort of. During all of this Asbury continues to disrespect his own mother bringing Doctor Block to him.

Asbury is the kind of person to slander his own mother in order to make himself look better. Even when it comes to how he looks at the world from an aesthetic view. This can be seen in the passage from how Asbury writes a letter to his own mother describing how much he resents her. To make matters even worse with this plan he wants her to read it after his death. His hatred for her can be seen from “The doctor came in making faces; his mother was smiling. ‘Guess what you’ve got, Sugarpie!’ she cried. Her voice broke in on him with the force of a gunshot” (Page 22, O’Connor). From this you can see that even a simple sentence can disturb him. Even when it is coming from his loving mother. If there is one thing that Asbury doesn’t immediately hate it is the aesthetic view of life. He might not have a great view, but really it is all he has.

The brightest point to Asbury’s life is his kindness to art. His entire world revolves around the detail to writing. Sadly, Asbury sees the light in the world when it is already too late. Asbury’s moment of no return is at the end of the short story when he is informed that he will have this fever for the rest of his life. From this quote though you can see that it is already too late for him “The fierce bird which through the years of his childhood and the days of his illness had been poised over his head, waiting mysteriously, appeared all at once to be in motion. Asbury blanched and the last film of illusion was torn as if by a whirlwind from his eyes. He saw that for the rest of his days, frail, racked, but enduring, he would live in the face of a purifying terror.” (Page 23, O’Connor). In this very quote the most descriptive language is used to describe how Asbury sees the world for the first time in his life. While he does see the beauty in pain of this moment, it is far too late for him to go back in his life, and see the beauty in everything. With this the story ends with Asbury who has realized he had the power to see the good in things, but he took it for granted.

Through the use of Asbury in “The Enduring Chill” Flannery O’Connor is conveying that a person always has the option to live in a hell on earth or their own heaven on earth; Life is what they make of it. Asbury is a man on a dying bedside table who wishes that he just could have done better in his life. Instead of living he realizes he could’ve changed by being nicer, his mother love is now unobtainable, and his ability to see art in the world is all up to him. For him though he can’t get any of his life back, and he is stuck in an irreversible limbo of illness.