he Essex (331). Indeed, there is a certain romantic nature to Hazel's relationship with his car -- it is the one entity to which he seems truly devoted. Paige's identification of the Essex as a phallic symbol sheds light on Hazel's utter impotence. When Sabbath Lily Hawks, whom Hazel says he intends to seduce, tries to seduce him, he bolts from the car. When Haze, unable to go through with the seduction, returns to the car, he finds it similarly incapacitated. Like Hazel with his unsuccessful proselytizing, the car "only [makes] . . . a noise like water lost somewhere in the pipes" (O'Connor 64). Another example of the Essex'ssymbolization of Hazel's lack of potency comes soon after he purchases the car, when, infuriated by a slow-moving pickup truck, he hits the horn "three times before he realized it didn't make any sound" (38). However, Motes continually professes that the Essex is a "good car" and says that he believes that his relationship with it can serve as a reason for living: "Nobody with a good car needs to be justified" (58). Once again, his romantic relationship with the Essex calls to mind an episode from Motes's childhood -- the incident at the carnival. While Haze is confused about what exactly it is that he is searching for, it is clear that his love affair with his car represents some sort of patheticattempt to get back to his childhood. In chapter eleven of Wise Blood, O'Connor writes that Hazel "would . . . make a new start with nothing on his mind. The entire possibility of this came from the advantage of having a car - of having something that moved fast, in privacy, to the place you wanted to be" (95). Hazel Motes clearly thinks of his car as a quick ticket to freedom. "This car'll get me anywhere I want to go. It may stop here and there but it won't stop permanent," he says (65) Motes, of course, means not only that the car can physically transport him from place to place but also that such mobility provides him...
