| The Turkey | |
| Author: | Flannery O'Connor |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Genre: | Southern Gothic |
| Published In: | Mademoiselle |
| Publication Type: | Magazine |
| Pub Date: | November 1948 |
"The Turkey" is an early short story by the American author Flannery O'Connor. It is one of the six stories included in O'Connor's 1947 master's thesis The Geranium: A Collection of Short Stories and was published in Mademoiselle in 1948 as "The Capture." It later appeared in the 1971 collection The Complete Stories and a modified version appeared in her Complete Works in 1988 as An Afternoon in the Woods.
The story involves a boy chasing and capturing an injured turkey, which is taken from him before he can bring it back to his family. The story has a Christian theme and deals with the boy's sinful motivations.[1]