"The Comforts of Home" is a short story

Short story

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

 by Flannery O'Connor

Flannery O'Connor

Mary Flannery O'Connor was an American novelist, short-story writer and essayist. An important voice in American literature, O'Connor wrote two novels and 32 short stories, as well as a number of reviews and commentaries...

. It was written in 1960 and published in 1965 in her short story collection Everything That Rises Must Converge

Everything That Rises Must Converge

Everything That Rises Must Converge is a collection of short stories written by Flannery O'Connor during her final illness. The title of the collection and of the short story of the same name is taken from a passage from the work of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. The collection was published...

. A devout Roman Catholic, O'Connor often used religious themes in her work.

Plot summary

The main character is Thomas, a history writer who lives with his mother. His mother takes pity on Sarah Ham (who calls herself Star Drake), a young woman who has been arrested and jailed for passing bad checks. Thomas' mother hires an attorney to parole the girl and finds a boardinghouse for Sarah to live. After Sarah gets kicked out of the boardinghouse for drunkenness, Thomas’ mother invites the girl to live with them over her son's objections. After various conflicts where Sarah is seemingly flirtatious toward Thomas, Thomas gets the sheriff to agree to remove Sarah once he notices that his handgun is missing from his room. Before the sheriff arrives, Thomas notices that the gun has been returned. He decides to plant the gun in Sarah's purse in order to get her removed anyway, but while doing so, he shoots at Sarah and as this is happening Thomas' mother jumps in front of Sarah and is killed. The police arrive and arrest Thomas.